Svetogorsk pulp and paper mill announced today that it will phase out the use of ancient forest wood in it production entirely. Svetogorsk announcement is first of its kind in the world.
New maps produced by Greenpeace and Biodiversity Concervation Center showing the decline in ancient forests based on satellite images have served as a major source of information in establishing this policy. Greenpeace hailed Svetogorsk announcement as a major step to protect the ancient forests in Russia. "80 per cent of the large ancient forest areas are already gone and most of the remaining areas could be gone in our life time," said Greenpeace International forest campaign coordinator Christoph Thies. "The decision of the Svetogorsk mill shows that it is possible to protect these forests and continue industrial production."
The Svetogorsk mill which is located in Leningrad region on the Finnish-Russian border will introduce a major provision in its policy which will ensure that no wood from ancient forests is processed. "People are only now starting to understand the importance of ancient forests to the biodiversity," said the deputy chief of forestry department of Svetogorsk pulp mill Reino Kotti. "In our opinion it is important also for the industry to respect the needs of the environment."
Key to the Svetogorsk announcement was the geographical information of Greenpeace. "Our commitment to ancient forest free production would have been impossible without the information provided by Greenpeace," said Reino Kotti. "Now we are able to show to our suppliers exactly which areas should be protected."
Greenpeace used satellite technology and on-the-ground verification to produce detailed maps showing forest areas down to 20 000 hectars in size. "Our maps give companies and governments unique information that can be use to protect these forests," said Alexey Yaroshenko, the forest campaigner of Greenpeace in Russia. "We will provide this information to companies using wood products in Russia and in Europe so that they can demand ancient forest free products from their suppliers. We have already sent copies to companies in Sweden, Austria, Germany, UK and in the Netherlands."
"The information provided by our GIS mapping project is startling." said Christoph Thies. "With a one glance anyone can see that ancient forests in western Russia are getting smaller and more fragmented every day."
There are still more ancient forests left in Russia than in any other country in the world. But especially in European part of Russia the forest are threatened by fragmentation caused by industrial logging. Svetogorsk pulp and paper mill is owned by a Swedish Tetra Laval and it produces 180 000 tonnes of printing paper per year. 70 per cent of the production is exported to Europe and Americas.
More information:
Alexey Yaroshenko, Greenpeace Russia, ++7.095.257 4116/18/22/24
Yevgeni Usov, Greenpeace Russia Press Desk, ++ 7.095.257 4116/18/22/24
Christoph Thies Greenpeace International, ++ 7.095.257 4116/18/22/24
Mika Railo, Greenpeace International Press Desk, mobile: ++31.6.535 04 722Hanna Kivinen Campaigner / Kampanjavastaava
Greenpeace
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