Archived press release

Finnish company destroys proposed russian forest national park

8 May 1997

Some of the last fragments of ancient forest in northern Europe are being destroyed by a Finnish logging company, despite the area being scheduled for national park status and included in a proposal for a World Heritage Site.

Activists from the Finnish Nature League and Friends of the Earth Finland yesterday blockaded a sawmill in Finland belonging to Vainionpaa, the company involved, in protest at the logging. Finland is a major supplier of timber and paper to the UK.

The logging is taking place in forest at Kalevala in Russian Karelia, close to the border with Finland. The forest is part of a so-called greenbelt on the Finnish-Russian border, which contains some of the last fragments of old, natural forest in northern Europe [1]. Finnish and Russian authorities have agreed to establish a national park in 100,000 ha of the forest; the national park has strong support from the local community, who have officially stated that no logging should take place in the proposed park [2]. The area is also included in a proposal for a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is supported by the Karelian Minister of the Environment.

Georgina Green of Friends of the Earth said:

" UK companies that import wood or paper from Finland should act urgently to ensure they are not dealing with companies such as Vainionpaa, that are unscrupulously destroying Russia's natural heritage, with no regard for the wishes of the local people. It's scandalous that an area scheduled to become a national park is being devastated in this way".

Friends of the Earth in England is campaigning for the protection of the last fragments of old-growth forest in northern Europe. Companies that export to the UK are still logging in,or using logs from, the last 5% of old, natural forest in Sweden and Finland, and old-growth forest in European Russia.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] Just 5% of old, natural forest remains in Sweden and Finland; the majority has been converted to intensively managed secondary forest. Over 1,700 forest-dwelling species in Sweden and over 700 in Finland are threatened as a result.

The forest in Russian Karelia, close to the border with Finland, has been less exploited than that in Finland and extremely valuable ancient forest remains. Environmentalists have been campaigning for this forest to be protected; as a result of the pressure, Finnish forestry giant ENSO agreed to a one-year moratorium on logging in old-growth forests in Russian Karelia (although they have made no such commitment about old-growth forest in Finland). Other Finnish companies have not agreed to a moratorium.

[2] In January 1997, the local city administration of Kostamuksha officially supported the establishment of the Kalevala national park and signed an agreement with environmentalists that no logging should take place in the area proposed for the park.

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