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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
ACTION
ALERT: Finnish Old-Growth Forest Logging Moratorium in Danger
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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org
http://forests.org/ -- Forest
Conservation Archives
http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest
Conservation
06/19/00
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY
Finnish
and Russian non-governmental organizations are asking for
your
support in maintaining a moratorium on old-growth logging in one
of the
last major stores of biodiversity in Europe.
Please respond
to this
important appeal.
g.b.
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RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Karelian old-growth moratorium threatened!
Source: Taiga Rescue Network
Date: June 18, 2000
Dear
all,
The
important old-growth logging moratorium in the Republic of Karelia
is in
danger. Finnish forest giant StoraEnso is currently considering
withdrawing
from the moratorium and Russian NGOs are asking for your
support.
The
moratorium has been instrumental in saving the largest expanse of
old-growth
forest in Fennoscandia - the Greenbelt of Fennoscandia.
Russian
and Finnish NGOs ask you to send protest letters to StoraEnso.
Find background
information and a draft letter below.
A good
background article on the moratorium is available through Taiga
News #
30 (Available at
http://www.snf.se/TRN/TaigaNews/News30/index.html).
/Ola
Larsson, Taiga Rescue Network
BACKGROUND
On May 30-31st
a Russian-Finnish seminar was organized in Pjaozersky
(Pjaojarvy)
by the Finnish Forest Industries Federation and Russian
Pjaozersky
Logging Company. Pjaozersky is a forestry village in
northwestern
Karelia, close to the Russian-Finnish border. The Russian
ENGO
representatives invited to the seminar were under unprecedented
pressure
by social problems' rhetoric. It is
clear that the goal of
the
seminar was to withdraw from the old-growth logging moratorium
established
in 1996 by StoraEnso (SE). SE is the main buyer of the
Pjaozersky
Logging Company.
The
Director General of the Pjaozersky Logging Company Mr.Fedchik
announced
at the seminar that road construction in the Paanajarvi-
Kutsa
wilderness area will continue this autumn and large-scale
loggings
will start next year independently of the environmental NGOs'
position.
The majority of the area has recently been leased to the
company
for logging. Mr. Fedchik and the Karelian vice-governor Mr.
Zitny refused
the compromises suggested by the NGO representatives.
StoraEnso
is currently in the process of making a decision on the
logging
moratorium. The company representative
stated that the
company
policy will be announced in a meeting with Russian NGOs
scheduled
for June 26-27th. Russian NGOs ask you
to distribute the
press-release
on the Pjaozero situation
(see
www.forest.ru/eng/hot_spots/pjaozero/press-release-may2000.html)
in your
country. Any pressure on StoraEnso is also welcome. More
information
on the Pjaozero (Paanajrvy-Kutsa) hotspot available:
- at
the Finnish Nature League web-site:
www.luontoliitto.fi/forest/russia/paanajarvi
- at
the Russian NGOs Forest Club web-site:
www.forest.ru/eng/hot_spots/pjaozero
Contact:
Dmitry Aksenov (picea@online.ru)
SEND
PRESSURE LETTERS TO STORA ENSO!
Please
help pressuring Stora Enso to recommit to the old-growth
logging
moratorium. Protest letter should be sent to Stora Enso CEO
Jukka
H„rm„l„ and Mr Voitto P”lkki at Stora Enso Forest. Please send
copies
of your letters to Dmitry Aksenov, Socio-Ecological Union,
<picea@online.ru>
or fax +7-095 124 79 34.
ADDRESSES
Stora
Enso Oyj
Jukka
H„rm„l„, CEO
P.O.Box
309
FIN-00101
Helsinki
FINLAND
Fax
+358 20 46 21471
Mr
Voitto P”lkki
Stora Enso
Mets„
Wolffintie
5
55800
Imatra
Finland
fax +
358 204 62 3001
DRAFT
LETTER
Re:
logging and wood purchasing moratorium in Northern European Russia
I am
writing to you concerning your company's presence in European
Russia.
I am
concerned to hear that you have not yet recommitted to the old-
growth
logging and wood purchasing moratorium in the regions of
Karelia
and Murmansk for the year 2000. Those regions contain some of
the
last remnants of high conservation value forests in Fennoscandia
and have
the potential to maintain Europe's biodiversity. However,
with
the current unclear commitment to the moratorium, those areas are
again
under the threat of logging. I have learned that important old
growth
areas, for example, the Pjaozero area in Karelia or Lapland
Forest
in the Murmansk region, are under acute threat now.
I hope
that you will renew and maintain your commitment concerning the
moratorium
as soon as possible until a decision, involving all
stakeholders,
has been taken regarding the protection of these areas.
Consumers
of wood and wood products in Western Europe are increasingly
demanding
old growth free products. I very much hope that you will be
able to
ensure that your wood supplies from Russia fulfill those
criteria
and that you therefore recommit to the logging and wood
purchasing
moratorium in Northern European Russia.
Yours
sincerely,
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TEXT ENDS###
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