Great grey owls hunt in the northern forests of Finland and European Russia
There are few remaining areas of ancient forest in Europe, but most of what is left lies in the far north, in Finland, Sweden and Russia. These forests are home to tens of thousands of indigenous peoples, including the Komi, the Nenets, and the reindeer-herding Sámi. They have also ensured the survival of species such as brown bears, flying squirrels and the highly endangered eagle owl.
State-sponsored destruction
As with forests elsewhere in the world, they are under threat. Finland's old-growth forests account for just 5 per cent of the country's 20 million hectares of forests, yet only half of this has been protected.
Worse still, these areas suffer from state-sponsored destruction as they continue to be logged by Metsähallitus, the government's own logging company. Following protests from environmental groups including Greenpeace, in 2004 Metsähallitus stopped logging in the old-growth forests of Lapland. By 2006, 30,000 hectares of these forests were protected but a further 35,000 hectares remain under threat and are once again being logged.
The logged timber is then used by pulp and paper companies who sell to the European paper market. As the second biggest market for Finnish paper, much of it finds its way to magazine and book publishers in the UK, including EMAP, Hachette and Orion.
But as a result of our work, in particular the Book Campaign, many of the more progressive publishers in the UK and around Europe now consider supplies of Finnish pulp to be suspect, and are moving towards printing on recycled paper or paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
We have also worked with the indigenous communities such as the Sámi to help map and demarcate important areas of forest. They rely on these areas of ancient forests to provide vital food for their reindeer herds during the harsh Lapland winter.
From Russia without love
However, the Finnish timber industry is not content with trashing its own forests. Most of the timber exported from Russia into the EU comes from the north-western Republic of Karelia, and much of that comes across the border into Finland.
In 2006, our investigations revealed that illegal and destructive practices are rife in the region and serious environmental damage is being caused by unscrupulous loggers.
We need your help though. Find out more about what you can do to help protect our remaining ancient forests.
