>>> Foreword: forestry practises have not changed in Finland. Certified old-growth destruction continues

Anything Goes? PEFC-certified old-growth forest destruction continues in Finland

In January 29, Greenpeace and the Finnish Nature League published the report "Anything Goes? A Report on PEFC Certified Finnish Forestry", which showed that the Finnish PEFC -endorsed forest certification had not stopped the logging of forests of high conservation value.

In April 2001, PEFC -certified logging of Finland's last old-growth forests continues. Pointing out problems in the certification system has not resulted in any improvements: the Finnish state enterprise Metsahallitus (Forest and Park Service) has not given up any of their logging plans in the ecologically valuable forests that were presented in the report. Several ecologically detrimental logging plans presented in Anything goes? have been implemented in February - April 2001. Even known habitats of endangered species have been logged.

PEFC -certification is claimed to be a proof of sustainable forestry but the reality in the Finnish forests is far from sustainable: PEFC systematically allows for the logging of old-growth forests and known habitats of endangered species.

New cases of ecologically detrimental logging

Greenpeace and the Finnish Nature League are now bringing up new examples of PEFC -certified logging in high conservation value forests as well as follow-up information on the cases presented in the Anything Goes? - report. The Forest and Park Service has implemented its logging plans in three of the forests that were presented in the report released in January 2001. Environmental organisations have also received information on eleven more high conservation value forest areas where logging has been carried out or been planned for the near future.

Negative impacts of old-growth logging are well known -yet, the logging goes on

The Finnish Forest and Park Service is systematically destroying old-growth forests by large-scale clearcutting. Logging is done even in old-growth forests that have been defined irreplaceably valuable by the Forest Service itself. PEFC -certified paper companies buy the timber from these forests: over 50% of Forest and Park Service wood is sold to Stora Enso. PEFC-logo holder UPM-Kymmene is the second biggest customer of Forest and Park Service.

Greenpeace and the Finnish Nature League wish to point out that the negative impacts of the Forest Service's old-growth forest logging have been assessed many times already. Several Ecological Landscape Plans of the FPS state that fragmentation of old-growth forests will continue if the current logging plans are implemented, and that this will result in further degradation of old-growth forest species in Finland. Some of the plans even predict that the planned loggings may result in the extinction of some species in the area. Yet, the logging goes on.

According to researches performed by Finnish scientists in 1990 - 2000, the forest protection network in Finland is insufficient to preserve forest biodiversity. Further protection of natural and semi-natural old-growth forests is essentially needed in order to maintain biodiversity in Finnish forests. At the moment only 3,6% of productive forest land in Finland is protected from logging. According to the Academy professor mr. Ilkka Hanski from the University of Helsinki " all somewhat natural-state old-growth forests should be left outside industrial forestry if the aim is to prevent a mass extinction of species ".

Forests needed by reindeer diminish

Anything Goes? - report in January 2001 presented tens of cases in which the logging of old-growth forests is in conflict with the interests of reindeer herders and the indigenous Sami people. The President of the Finnish Sami parliament has publicly stated his gratitude for environmental organisations for bringing up the issue since the release of the report. Several Sami reindeer herders have written statements on regional newspapers against old-growth forest logging in February and March. Although the issue has been discussed widely in public, logging of the forests essential to the herders have continued. In February 2001 the Forest Service began a 40 hectare logging in the forest of Hevosvaara, an essential winter pasture for the reindeer of the area.

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