Finnish Forest and Park Service
continues logging in Malahvia wilderness

Forest industry buys everything FPS sells
- No signs of old-growth logging moratorium in Finland in sight

PRESS RELEASES

Environmentalists protest against the state loggings in Malahvia old-growth forest in Eastern Finland January 7,1999

Locals against loggings / STORAENSO Lumipaper = old-growth paper December 1, 1998

BACKGROUND

Map above:
Loggings started in the middle of wilderness

The recently started loggings are situated in the middle of forest-swamp-pond landscape mosaic. The ongoing loggings comprise 35 hectares of clearcuts and 65 hectares of selective cuttings. Construction of two new logging roads started during compiling of the forestry plan of the area.

Areas under loggings include undisturbed water ways composed of natural state ponds, lakes and brooks, and banks that have not been logged earlier. Local environmental authorities consider Malahvia being one of the largest and most valuable water way areas in the region. Their suggestion was to give up all the logging in the area. The FPS forestry plan for Malahvia does not mention the water ways at all.

Logging in the snowy wilderness.
FPS`s trucks are transporting the timber to the mills of big Finnish companies
STORAENSO, UPM-Kymmene and VAPO.

Photos by the Finnish Nature League 1998 / Risto Sauso

 

The vanishing old-growth forests of Finland

The main Finnish environmental NGOs handed over to the FPS maps of valuable unprotected state owned old-growth forests in January 1998. For these areas the NGOs demand a logging moratorium and immediate protection of 370 areas. However, the FPS didn't agree with this.Tens of these extremely valuable forests have already been logged this year and tens more will be logged further on this winter and spring 1999.

The NGOs also demanded the forest industry to stop purchases of timber from these areas. This was also ignored. Both leading forest companies Enso and UPM-Kymmene are committed to the old-growth forest logging moratorium in Russian Karelia, but this does not stop companies pulping Finnish old-growth forests.

Despite the requests of mid-European paper buyers old-growth forest loggings are still going on and there is no sign loggings would end in the future.

READ MORE

OLD-GROWTH FORESTS OF FINLAND >>> map

MID-EUROPEAN PAPER BUYERS DEMAND OGF-FREE PAPER >>> declaration