So Phil what's happening here in the Inari area - why are Greenpeace here?
In 2003, the reindeer herders worked with Greenpeace and the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (FANC) to map out forest areas essential for reindeer winter grazing. We found that 90% of the mapped forest areas were old-growth forest. Using these maps, a coalition that represented most of forested reindeer herding cooperatives in the Sámi area demanded a moratorium on logging - in the identified areas- until a decision regarding their future could be reached. Sadly, the logging did not stop and a number of the vital grazing pastures have been destroyed. We are here to help the Sámi reindeer herders in Inari, northern Lapland, to defend their reindeer forests and their future.

How are the Sámi reindeer herders being affected by the logging here?
This region is homeland to the indigenous Sámi people, who still practice traditional reindeer herding as part of their livelihood. The state-owned forestry company Metsähallitus has been engaged in logging some of the last tracts of old-growth forest outside of protected areas. These are abundant in horsetail lichen, an important source of food for reindeer. Up to 70% of the old-growth timber logged by Metsähallitus in Sámi areas goes to pulp and paper production. Forests - with trees several hundreds of years old, support a myriad of wildlife and sustain Sámi culture. Yet they are being rapidly converted into magazines, copy paper and envelopes.

We know that the state forest company Metsähallitus is involved - but where does the paper company StoraEnso fit into this story?
The Finnish State, through the Ministry of Finance, is the single largest shareholder in the Finnish paper giant StoraEnso, and control the majority of the company's voting rights. StoraEnso is Metsähallitus's biggest customer, buying 60% of its annual timber output nationwide. According to Matti Karjula - StoraEnso's Senior Vice President, Wood Supply Finland - the company buys around 50-60,000 cubic metres of pulp logs from Metsähallitus's logging operations in northern Lapland. Theis wood is destined for Stora Enso's pulp mill, Kemijärvi, located 200km south of the Sámi area.

As recently as December 2004, we tracked pulp logs while they were transported from two of Metsähallitus's logging operations in northern Lapland - Kessi and Paadarskaidi - to the Kemijärvi mill.

Is this just a problem here in Finland - or does it extend to other countries? For instance, where does the paper go?
StoraEnso supplies virtually all the larger European paper processors, printers and publishers. From its Kemijärvi mill the pulp is sent to another mill in Finland, StoraEnso's Veitsiluoto, where it is mainly transformed into magazine grade papers. This mill produces over 400,000 tonnes, most of which is exported to countries across Europe. We'll be talking more about this later in the campaign.

Kemijärvi also supplies pulp to StoraEnso's paper mills in other European countries. We know that the StoraEnso's Berghuizer mill in the Netherlands, which specialises in copy and envelope papers, buys this pulp. StoraEnso is the leading supplier of copy papers in Europe.

As of today - what's happening?
Greenpeace campaigners across Europe have contacted StoraEnso customers, asking them to pressue StoraEnso into stop buying from the mapped reindeer forest areas. Last Friday, I met Matti Karjula (StoraEnso's Senior Vice President, Wood Supply Finland) to discuss the campaign. He agreed that something urgently needed to be done about the logging in Nellim, and agreed to call Metsähallitus, to convince them to stop logging operations in the area. He did make the call, and Metsähallitus subsequently agreed to stop. However, Nellim is just one of the co-operative areas under threat from logging by Metsähallitus. StoraEnso have not yet agreed to stop buying from all these areas. As it buys massive amounts of logs from Metsähallitus, StoraEnso is a decisive player in the fate of reindeer forests in northern Lapland, in logging operations should be managed logging operations outside these areas.

In its marketing, StoraEnso company likes to depict itself as a company that treads lightly on the earth. On its website, and in regular communications with customers around the world, the company boasts of its commitment to sustainability and to policies that ensure wood is not procured from environmentally or socially destructive sources. Perhaps StoraEnso should live up to these fine words!

Download a map showing the Sámi Reindeer Forests Paper Trail (.pdf, 74KB)»

Send an email to StoraEnso, and put pressure on them to change! »