London - The resumption of logging in Finland's ancient forests could mean Santa's magical homeland won't be around much longer in its current state. Worse still, Lapland's most famous animal, the reindeer, which usually fly Mr Claus and his sleigh of presents across the globe on Christmas Eve, could also be in jeopardy.
Three years ago, the Finnish government's logging arm, Metsähallitus, halted logging of old growth forests in Santa's homeland of Lapland, following protests from environmental groups such as Greenpeace. In February this year, it protected 30,000 hectares of these forests. However, 35,000 hectares remained under threat and now some of these areas are once again being logged.
At Christmas time, the reindeer of Lapland rely on tree lichen, which only grows in these forest areas, for vital nutrients during the harsh winter months.
Finland has some of the last remaining ancient forests in Europe, which are important for hundreds of animals such as the reindeer, golden eagle, the endangered flying squirrel and the three-toed woodpecker.
Pat Venditti, Greenpeace's senior forest campaigner said, "Rudolph and his reindeer friends could go hungry this Christmas because logging is wiping out the trees their food grows on. Without this critical energy source how can the reindeer pull Santa's sleigh on his one-night global present giving bonanza?"
"There's absolutely no reason for these pristine ancient forests to be trashed. If Rudolph could be granted a Christmas wish, I'm sure he'd ask for this destruction to stop."
The logged timber will be used by the pulp and paper companies Stora Enso, UPM, Botnia and M-Real. Since the UK is the second largest market place for Finnish fibre, this could mean that very soon this fibre will end up in the supply chain of magazine companies like EMAP and book publishers like Hodder Headline, Orion, Little Brown and Octopus.
Ancient forest destruction is also contributing to climate change. Deforestation accounts for a staggering 18 per cent of global carbon emissions - more than is produced by the transport sector.
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For more information, contact the Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255.
Photographs available on request.
