Mustamäki forest in the county of Lohja (Finland), one of the case studies detailed in the report. Photo: Reijo Pokkinen

A coalition of environmental and social NGOs has released an investigation exposing the failings of forest-industry-controlled certification worldwide. The On the Ground report details 21 case studies from eight different countries, including Finland and Sweden.

The researchers for the report found that PEFC and SFI certified forests fail on key ecological and social parameters that wood and paper buyers expect from a credibly certified product. According to the report, PEFC and SFI certified products:

• Failed to protect forest values such as key habitats and endangered ecosystems,
• Failed to consider adequately the needs of local and indigenous communities dependent on forests
• Failed to prevent the conversion of natural ecosystems to industrial tree plantations.

The Finnish forest sector has been a strong actor in creating and supporting the PEFC certification scheme. Approximately 95% of managed forests in Finland are PEFC certified.

“In Finland there are reported cases of destruction of woodland key habitats, loggings in protected areas and violations of Saami rights, but these haven’t influenced on the certificate. The big problem with PEFC is that feed-back doesn’t have an impact on performance”, says Sini Eräjää from the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation.

“A functional and reliable certification should be able to demonstrate real changes in the forestry practices. The report shows that PEFC and its national certification schemes have failed in this respect. Buyers should beware of greenwash when considering PEFC labelled wood products”, Sini Eräjää warns.

The NGO coalition behind the report includes Climate for Ideas (UK), Forest of the World (Denmark), Dogwood Alliance (USA), Hnutí DUHA (Friends of the Earth, Czech), Les Amis de la Terre (Friends of the Earth, France), Greenpeace, Netherlands Centre for Indigenous Peoples, Sierra Club of British Columbia (Canada) and Finnish Association for Nature Conservation.

Read the report

Environmentally certified logging of High Conservation Value Forest in mid-east Sweden. Photo: John Lööf Green

For immediate release

21 January 2010, STOCKHOLM / SWEDEN

NordicForests.org – new website on threatened High Conservation Value Forests in Fennoscandia

NordicForests.org is a new website about unprotected High Conservation Value Forests under threat in Norway, Sweden and Finland from the Taiga Rescue Network.

Today forest based consumer goods from Norway, Sweden and Finland often come from controversial loggings in High Conservation Value Forests. NordicForests.org aims to provide this information and news to producers, buyers, NGOs and the general public who are concerned about biologically and socially valuable forests in Fennoscandia. It does so by presenting media, reports, statistics and maps about forests in general and concerning specific districts and countries.

“Much of the forest based consumer goods from Fennoscandia are sold to the European markets, especially to countries like Germany and the UK. What the consumers do not know is that the source may be valuable forests from Fennoscandia. That’s why we want to provide a source of information that’s easily accessible also to consumers and buyers from these regions,” says Sini Eräjää from the Taiga Rescue Network.

Some of the forest areas described are still standing and some have recently been logged. By providing information Nordicforests.org aims to present a comprehensive picture of realities facing those Fennoscandian forests.

“We believe that well informed people can help to preserve biologically rich forest landscapes in balance between different interests in society. Now we have a valuable tool for doing that,” says Mirjam Lööf Green forest network co-ordinator in Sweden.

The site’s main contributors are actively engaged in either forest research or Environmental NGOs in Fennoscandia. All the forests described on NordicForests.org have documented High Conservation Values. All of the areas are under threat of being logged as they are not protected.

“In our network we have dozens of experts and local activists with years of field experience. The long running work made by these persons is the solid ground that the facts of the site are built on,” says Olli Manninen, Finnish forest activist.

NordicForests.org will be a reliable source for forest news in Fennoscandia for several years onwards.

“NordicForests.org will continuously be updated with new examples of unprotected forests and will be our main source to provide information on the situation in Norway,” says Gjermund Andersen, forest campaigner of FoE-Norway.

For more information please contact:
Gjermund Andersen
forest campaigner of FoE-Norway
+47 952 264 02
gjermund@noa.no

Mirjam Lööf Green
Co-ordinator of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation’s national forest network.
+46 70 556 95 22
mirjam.loof-green@naturskyddsforeningen.se

Olli Manninen
Finnish forest activist
+35 850 594 04 29
ollimanninen@yahoo.se

Sini Eräjää
Co-ordinator Taiga Rescue Network
+35 850 358 38 38
sini.erajaa@sll.fi

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NordicForests.org is a joint Taiga Rescue Network-project realized and supported by several environmental organizations from all the Fennoscandic countries and the general boreal zone.

Taiga Rescue Network is the only international network of non-governmental organizations, indigenous peoples and individuals working to defend the world’s boreal forests. Today more than 200 organizations are participants of the network. See more at: taigarescue.org.

Subscribe to the NordicForests.org Newsletter here: NordicForests.org/newsletter/

An old-growth pine forest in Finland Photo:Olli Manninen

There are 22,9 million hectares of forests (forest and scrublands) in Finland and they cover some 75% of the total land area. Strictly protected forests cover 5,1% of the forest land, and if the scrub lands are included, the total number was 8,9% in 2008. No silvicultural management is allowed in these areas. Most of the protected forests in Finland are situated in the northernmost parts of the country.

Forests are the most important ecosystem for endangered species in Finland. 564 species (37,5 %) of all endangered species live in forests. Forestry is also the most common reason why both species and habitats become endangered. It was estimated in 1995 that some 5 % of the Finnish forests were old-growth forests and only half of them were protected. Not much is known about other biologically valuable forest types, because they have never been systematically mapped.

Forest industry and forestry have been significant for the national economy throughout the whole 20th century. The forests have been in “intensive care”. For example 120 000 kilometres of forest roads have been constructed and some 5 million hectares of peatlands have been ditched for forestry purposes. Some 120 000 – 150 000 hectares of clear-cuts are carried out annually. Young forests (age less than 40 years) cover currently one third of the Finnish forests (37 %) while forests older than 120 years only cover 12 %.

There are more unprotected High Conservation Value Forests in Finland which will show up in later updates of the NordicForests.org Map. Download the NordicForests.org Map for Google Earth here .

Read the report

”Finland’s forests are among the most intensively managed in the world. Over 50 million cubic metres of wood are harvested every year from the country’s 20 million hectares of commercial forests. The Finnish forest management model has resulted in the rapid conversion of natural forests into monotonous industrial forests that lack many key features of boreal forest ecosystems. Forestry is the most serious threat to species survival in Finland. Unless there is a  significant increase in the amount of protected forest area and a parallel improvement in the standards of forest management, hundreds of species face extinction within  the next 50 years. 

Sustainable development and protection of biodiversity are now popular phrases in the public communications of the Finnish forestry sector. But there remains a huge gap between rhetoric and reality. Forest certification could be an effective way to improve the ecological and social sustainability of forest use. However, 95% of Finland’s forests have been certified according to the inadequate Finnish Forest Certification System standard,  with the result that there has been little change to the destructive practices that have caused the current degradation of forest biodiversity. 

With this report, the undersigned Finnish environmental organisations want to emphasise the urgent need for better forest management and better protection for  the remaining old-growth and high-conservation-value forests in Finland.”

From the foreword to the report