2008-03:Urwaldzerstörung in Finnland

Destruction of Finland's Ancient Forests

PRESS/SOCIAL MEDIA RELEASE
World Outraged by Finland's Continued Old Growth Logging

Supposedly "Green" Finland's unprotected intact old growth forest landscapes, including 300 year old trees in Northern Forest Lapland, continue to be destroyed to make throw-away paper products.

Seattle, WA Finland's last unprotected intact old growth forest landscapes continue to be destroyed by the Finnish government and timber industry. Trees more than 300 years old are being industrially destroyed by the government's logging body Metsähallitus, ending up in timber giant Stora Enso's pulp wood piles. Less than 5% of Finnish forests have remained untouched by modern forestry.

Ecological Internet's Earth Action Network is supporting Finnish NGO demands that Northern Forest Lapland's natural treasures are fully protected. Some 1,630 people from 66 countries have sent 345,578 emails in a peaceful protest intended to put international pressure on the Finnish government and Stora Enso.

"There are too few large, connected and relatively intact terrestrial ecosystem habitats globally to sustain the Earth system," explains global forest protection expert Dr. Glen Barry. "Finland and the World's old-growth must be strictly protected and restored to sustain the Earth's biosphere and ecosystem processes including climate, water and biodiversity upon which all life depends."

Regarding Stora Enso's response to the protest, Finnish forest policy observer Olli Manninen notes "Stora Enso admits buying wood from old growth and virgin forests and is committed to doing so in the future. And Metsähallitus definitely has further plans to log these areas, some being already marked for logging. It is deeply troubling that Stora Enso claims wood from Forest Lapland's old-growth destruction fulfils the Forest Stewardship Council's (FSC) requirements."

Finnish old-growth forest destruction today is totally unnecessary. Finland is a rich industrialized country with no economic need to log the remains of its old-growth forests. Low-productive old-growth boreal forests located hundreds of kilometres north from the Polar Circle are being logged systematically and indiscriminately, yet provide less that 0.1% of the industry's wood supply.

This is the latest protest in Ecological Internet's global campaign to protect all remaining ancient primary and old growth forests, and promote regeneration and restoration of secondary forests to late successional old-growth status. Increasing old forest cover globally is critical for achieving global ecological sustainability.

February 10, 2009
By Earth's Newsdesk, a project of Ecological Internet
http://www.ecoearth.info/newsdesk/
CONTACT: Dr. Glen Barry, glenbarry AT ecologicalinternet.org

Ecological Internet provides the world's largest and most used climate and environment portals at http://www.climateark.org/ and http://www.ecoearth.info/
Dr. Glen Barry is a leading global spokesperson on behalf of environmental sustainability policy. He frequently conducts interviews on the latest climate, forest and water policy developments and can be reached.