ON A WOODED hillside in eastern Finland, close to the Russian border, a jumble of birch, alder, rowan and goat willow sprawls across the slopes. Spruce and Scots pine of all ages, from seedlings to fat old giants, are surrounded by a chaos of dying, dead and decaying trees. Thick beards of lichen hang from the twigs, and a myriad of fungi sprout from the rotting remains of the trunks on the forest floor. It is an ancient, tangled wildwood: in ecological terms, near-pristine old-growth boreal forest.
But near the top of the slope the forest comes to an abrupt halt. In front is a freshly felled area of around 100 hectares: a 鈥渃lear-cut鈥� with all the trees removed. Stacks of logs, some over 300 years old, lie by the roadside, ready for sale. After being cleared, the land will be replanted with single varieties of pine and spruce.
This clear-cut of private forest near Kuusamo, in the eastern province of Kainuu, is just one example of the way Finland鈥檚 ancient forests have changed beyond recognition. Their destruction has helped to fuel the timber export trade that brings in around 拢6 billion annually. The Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF) claims that Finland is sustaining diverse forests. But according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Finland鈥檚 environment ministry, only about 3 per cent of Finland鈥檚 woodlands maintain the biodiversity of the ancient forests that once cloaked most of northern Europe.
Advertisement
The remainder has been converted into commercial forests. In southern Finland, this has resulted from management methods which favour commercially useful trees to the exclusion of almost all else. In the more sparsely populated north, much of the remaining ancient forest has been destroyed, to be replaced by uniform plantations. As their traditional habitats are displaced, hundreds of plants and animals may face extinction. Pressure for change from environmental campaigners, government and timber buyers is starting to bite, triggering something of a revolution in forestry practices, along with an increase in protected areas. But for the moment, much of the country鈥檚 last ancient forests is still under threat.
The remaining traces of Finland鈥檚 original old-growth forests are mostly in the thinly populated provinces of Kainuu, northern Karelia and Lapland. The Kainuu forests are particularly valuable because they contain Finland鈥檚 largest fragments of ancient woodland, and form a 鈥渂ridge鈥� between the old forests of Russia and those of Scandinavia. Of Kainuu鈥檚 700 square kilometres of ancient woodland, only a fifth is protected by law. Over the past thirty years or so, the ancient woodlands have been logged heavily as mechanisation has stepped up the felling rate (see Map).
The logging has been carried out mainly by the state鈥檚 Forest and Parks Service, which owns most of the remaining old-growth forest. It is entrusted with 鈥渟ustaining and increasing biodiversity鈥� in its forests while at the same time and bringing in an annual profit of over 100 million Finnish marks (around 拢15 million). But widespread destruction shows up dramatically in satellite pictures 鈥� the Russian-Finnish frontier is visible as a line separating the dark green of dense Russian forest from the patchy mosaic of clear-cuts and plantations on the Finnish side.
The clear-cutting is greeting enthusiastically by some ecologists who have close ties with the forestry industry. They claim that clear-cutting simply mimics the effects of natural forest fires, which are caused by lightning every 50 to 200 years on average, depending on the type of forest. But most forest ecologists argue that fires always leave some groups of trees standing so that as the forest regenerates, it maintains a range of species, ages and a diversity of habitat. Clear-cutting, on the other hand, results in disruption of ecosystems, and if widespread, the forest is unlikely to recover.
Environmental groups such as the Finnish section of the WWF and Greenpeace agree. They point to a 1991 report compiled for Finland鈥檚 Environment Ministry, which estimated that a total of 692 species are facing extinction as a result of the forestry practices. Related developments, such as draining peat bogs for conifer plantations, have pushed several hundred other species close to the brink. Among those at risk are the flying squirrel, osprey, and white-backed woodpecker. The vast majority, however, are the fungi, mosses, lichens and invertebrates that depend on the rich mix of tree species of all ages and the large quantities of dead or decaying wood to be found in the relatively undisturbed ancient forests.
PR slogan
The destruction of old forest is completely at odds with the image conveyed by the FFIF. Its publicity campaigns over the past two years have promised that 鈥減revailing forest practices are adding to the creation of a healthier and more natural forest鈥� and that they 鈥渁llow for all the rich variety of nature, for the many species of flora and fauna growing there鈥�.
Much of the paper produced from Finnish timber carries labels that boast of its eco-friendly origins. 鈥淭his paper comes from sustainably managed Finnish forests鈥� is a familiar slogan on greeting cards. But in the eyes of environmentalists, it鈥檚 a tendentious claim, designed to win trade by implying the much wider, positive connotations which the word 鈥渟ustainability鈥� now conveys. 鈥淚t鈥檚 only 鈥榮ustainable鈥� in the narrowest of senses鈥�, says Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud, a specialist in forestry at the WWF headquarters in Switzerland. 鈥淏y concentrating on a couple of commercial species, the Finns have been able to maintain their timber yield. But they certainly can鈥檛 claim to be sustaining the forest as a whole. That鈥檚 the crucial difference.鈥�
Finnish paper containing pulp from imported wood 鈥� the vast majority from ancient forests in Russian Karelia and the Baltic states 鈥� is also sold as the product of 鈥渟ustainably managed鈥� forests. But there is not even a pretence of sustainable management on the Russian side of the border, according to Jarmo Pyykk枚 of the Finnish Nature League, an environmental pressure group which concentrates on the preservation of the ancient forests. Although the damage is not as extensive as in Finland, and the Russian clear-cuts tend to regenerate naturally over time instead of being turned into uniform plantations, the problem is increasing. 鈥淭hey are clear-felling old-growth forest in blocks of up to 100 hectares. In some places, these have joined together to make freshly cut areas of up to 1 000 hectares, with just a few 鈥榠slands鈥� of forest in the middle.鈥� Most of the work, says Pyykk枚, is being carried out by private contractors from Finland and Sweden.
Frontier forestry
The FFIF says that most of the imports are of birch, now prized for modern chemical methods of pulp-making, its longer fibres helping to strengthen the resulting paper. Ironically, the managed Finnish forest areas were systematically cleared of birch in the 1960s in the belief that it had no commercial value. But even wood from trees which are common in Finland is often imported from Russia, sometimes a cheaper option for competitive companies. A trip to the border crossing at Vartius, where the timber trains come in from Russian Karelia, reveals wagons packed with old-growth Scots pine as well as birch. A few hundred yards down the road are stacks of the increasingly rate silver fir, at least 200 years old, bearing the label of the Finnish paper company Metsa-Serl盲.
Until now, many customers both in Britain and Germany 鈥� the two largest markets for paper and other forest products 鈥� have accepted at face value assurances which are now being exposed as, at best, incomplete. The British timber retailer B&Q ran advertisements in October 1994 declaring that it does not 鈥渂uy timber from any unknown source鈥�. Chris Cox, who is timber and environment adviser to B&Q, told New 杏吧原创 that he would be 鈥渧ery unhappy to find out that any old-growth forest was being clear-cut鈥� for supplies bought by the company. Yet one of its Finnish suppliers is P枚lkky, a sawmill based near the old-growth Kuusamo forests, where it buys some of its wood.
Pulp fiction
Other companies supplying B&Q also take wood from both the Kuusamo forests and from Russian Karelia. Cox admits that B&Q has 鈥渘ot been vigilant enough as far as Finnish timber is concerned鈥�, and says that it has now sought assurances that no old-growth timber from Finland will be passed through its supply chain. It has also demanded that any timber originating from Russia is identified.
The Finnish company Veitsiluoto, which supplies paper to many leading European publishers, also buys timber from Kuusamo and from Russia. One of its customers is Reed-Elsevier, parent company of IPC Magazines, which publishes New 杏吧原创. Peter Miller, IPC鈥檚 paper buyer, says that he would be 鈥渧ery concerned if any of the people supplying us were using old-growth timber 鈥� particularly since Lamco [the sales arm of the Finnish Paper Mills Association] has assured us that no old-growth is being used鈥�.
Miller has received the same assurance from another of the company鈥檚 paper suppliers, Kymmene. And yet the vice-president of Kymmene, Heikki Hassi has said: 鈥淚 cannot guarantee that we are not using timber from old-growth forest.鈥� Hassi agrees, however, that market pressure is beginning to tell. 鈥淚 have to ask our foresters to limit the size of their clear-cuts on Kymmene鈥檚 own lands [most of which are commercially managed 鈥榮econdary鈥� forests], because our customers are insisting on it,鈥� he says.
The pressure has been sufficient for companies to break ranks. In 1994, the Finnish paper suppliers United Paper Mills and Enso-Gutzeit won cautious plaudits from environmental campaigners, including Greenpeace, for adopting a firm stance against using old-growth timber. Other companies claim that it is impossible to trace their supplies thoroughly enough to work out whether they include old-growth. This is dismissed as disingenuous by one senior officer at the Forest and Parks Service. 鈥淭hey know full well that most timber bought from the service is going to include some old-growth because in some areas that鈥檚 all we have. But they maintain a public pretence of not knowing the source so as to be able to present a 鈥榗lean鈥� face to their customers.鈥�
Those companies may not be able to do so for much longer. Environmentalists are stepping up campaigns in Finland, as well as in Germany and Britain. An international day of action, coordinated by Forest Movement Europe and Taiga Rescue Network based in Sweden, has been scheduled for 22 February; demonstrations against environmentally damaging forestry practices in Scandinavia will take place throughout Europe. The Women鈥檚 Environmental Network, a campaigning organisation based in London, has called for an end to old-growth logging and for the introduction of more environmentally friendly forest practices. In Germany, Greenpeace has extracted a statement condemning 鈥渄estructive logging practices such as clear-cutting鈥�, and calling for full protection of old-growth forests, from four leading publishing houses 鈥� Burda, Bauer, Gruner & Jahr and Axel Springer, which produce mass circulation international magazines such as Best (Gruner & Jahr), and Bella and TV Quick (Bauer).
The Forest and Parks Service, too, has been feeling the effect of the pressure. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had some bad experiences with environmentalists,鈥� admits its communications director, Kerttu H盲rk枚nen, 鈥渁nd we鈥檝e learnt some lessons.鈥� It responded by embarking on a programme of 鈥渇orest inventories鈥� in northern Finland in 1993 in an effort to find out which of its lands deserve to be protected on conservation grounds. Until recently, the service鈥檚 timber section would frequently clear-cut any area scheduled for an inventory lest its conservation department deemed it worthy of protection, according to one of the service鈥檚 senior officers. But in late 1994, it announced a moratorium on logging of all sensitive areas of its land pending completion of the inventories this year. At a stroke, this has put a freeze on much of the old-growth logging under way in Finland.
It is not clear how much of the old-growth forest will end up being protected as a result of the inventory process. The Forest and Parks Service is tentatively floating the idea of selective logging in protected areas. If protection is to be permanent, the service may have to be freed from the pressure of turning in a profit 鈥� an outcome already backed by some forest officials.
Counting the cost
In the meantime, the Environment Ministry, keen to demonstrate a post-Rio commitment to biodiversity, is pushing for rapid protection of old-growth forests and much tighter controls on logging practices elsewhere. Secretary-general Sirkka Hautoj盲rvi envisages a doubling of the area under protection, with a network of key old-growth 鈥渉ot spots鈥� to be linked by corridors of secondary forest managed primarily for conservation. 鈥淲e need a drastic change of thinking in our approach to forestry,鈥� she says. Such a change is encapsulated in the introduction to a new series of environmental guidelines for the industry drawn up in 1994 by the Environment and Agriculture and Forestry Ministries. They outline a range of measures, including restricting clear-cuts in all forests to a maximum of 10 hectares, and retaining some dead and decaying standing trees, along with some old living specimens. Re-seeding from 鈥渕other trees鈥� should be encouraged, and some noncommercial deciduous species should be retained. Logging should be halted along all watercourses, and selective logging, rather than clear-cutting, should take place on particularly sensitive sites. Fertiliser and chemical pesticides will be discouraged, and from 1996, 鈥渇irst-time鈥� drainage of wetlands should stop. There鈥檚 a cost implication in all this, but the FFIF estimates that it could add only 10 per cent to industry overheads.
Finnish environmentalists give the guidelines a cautious welcome but stress that similar guidelines, issued in 1985, were largely ignored. A survey carried out by Finland鈥檚 section of the WWF in 1993 found little evidence that any environmental considerations had been taken into account on private forest land, mainly in the south, which makes up 72 per cent of the total. Most of this belongs to small landowners, sometimes owning just a few hectares each. About one million people 鈥� one fifth of the population 鈥� have some ownership stake in a forest. While this has fortuitously resulted in the survival of patches of comparatively rich, semi-natural forest, usually on land neglected by its absentee owners, it also makes forest planning very difficult.
And none of the restrictions would apply to timber imported from Russia. Raising standards at home could merely encourage industry to look elsewhere: in this case, to the ample supplies just over the border. 鈥淚f the Finns really want to 鈥榞reen鈥� their forestry, they will have to apply the same rules across the board, whether it鈥檚 home-grown or imported timber,鈥� says Jeanrenaud.
In common with many environmentalists, Jeanrenaud sees certification as the answer. The Forest Stewardship Council, founded by a consortium of timber traders, including B&Q, wants to set up a system under which all timber supplied by Finnish companies can be independently vetted for sustainability, receiving an appropriate eco-label if it meets the criteria.
Second chance
The FFIF has expressed interest in joining the council鈥檚 scheme: it could only benefit, says its critics from the Women鈥檚 Environmental Network to the WWF, from adopting tighter environmental standards in a market that is increasingly environmentally aware. 鈥淯nlike other softwood-producing countries, such as Sweden and the UK,鈥� says Jeanrenaud, 鈥淔inland is in the unique position of growing only native species. This means there鈥檚 a real opportunity to start rebuilding natural forest, using management systems which mimic the natural processes.鈥�
If the Finnish timber industry and forestry succeed in making the shift, then perhaps that slogan on the greetings cards may finally carry some clout.