Resolving global biodiversity crisis requires systemic sustainability transformation in different areas of society (IPBES 2019). Administrative (public sector) institutions and practices play an important role in bringing about this change. According to a recent systematic literature review, empirical studies on sustainability transformations are generally lacking while theoretical research related to the concept of transformation is abundant (Salomaa & Juhola 2020). In this paper we will focus on the administrative opportunities and obstacles for sustainability transformation in biodiversity-related agricultural and forest policies in Finland. Administrative institutions and practices here refer both to governance structures and features, and policy tools which include, for example, legislation, planning, economic and policy instruments, and information measures.

Based on the literature review, we first describe the characteristics of the sustainability transformation. After that, we present the identified administrative and societal obstacles to transformation. Our analysis is based on 10 expert interviews conducted from November to December 2022.

The identified issues standing in the way of a transformation can be seen to be linked to the features of the current system. Path dependency of sectoral policies, the roles of ministries in promoting the interests of their own sectors leading to the lack of coordination and cooperation and the subordinate role of environmental policies compared to other sectoral policies are examples of governance structures and practices that stand in the way of a transformation.

Concerning the futures perspective, other identified problems are the inability to make decisions in long term, the overall lack of resources in the administration and the weakness of the international community in creating a coordinated global response to battle biodiversity loss. Finally, the complex and hard-to-understand concept of biodiversity poses a particular challenge to administrative measures.

However, we have identified solution models for these issues and challenges. These include, for example, changes in the nature of environmental protection from restorative work to pre-emptive measures, increasing funding for both restoration and administration and novel economic, and policy instruments that further bring the costs of externalities in the prices of commodities. We also aim to develop practices for lengthening the time scales of policy making, supporting holistic and coordinated approaches in solving environmental crises and finally, finding new ways to use forests in a both economically and environmentally sustainable way.

Keywords: biodiversity loss, transformation, long-term governance