Logging Destroys Proposed Russian Park

• Subject: Logging Destroys Proposed Russian Park
• From: "B. Diamond" <bdiamond@MIND.NET>
• Date: Fri, 9 May 1997 09:13:40 -0800
• Message-Id: <33735B44.1294@mind.net>
• Organization: Citizens for Sustainable Forestry

> LOGGING DESTROYS PROPOSED RUSSIAN PARK
>
> LONDON, England, May 8, 1997 (ENS) - 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 United Kingdom.
>
> 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.
>
> 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, according to a statement by Friends of the Earth UK.
>
> Finnish and Russian authorities have agreed to establish a national park in
> 100,000 hectares (386 square miles) of the forest. The national park
> proposal has strong support from the local community, which has officially
> stated that no logging should take place in the proposed park. In January,
> 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.
>
> 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 in London called on UK companies
> that import wood or paper from Finland to, "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," Green said.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>

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