Another victory in Lapland
There's rejoicing in Finland, where we just notched up another victory protecting some of Europe's last old growth forests!
Just 2 months after a lawsuit against Finland's State forest service was settled by a deal which will protect the Nellim forest, we have reached a major victory on our other old-growth forest campaign. We’re pleased to announce that following intensive negotiations, Finnish State forest enterprise, Metsähallitus, has agreed to leave 35 000 hectares of boreal forests intact. It's a decision that significantly improves old-growth forest protection and will bring peace to the forests and its inhabitants.
The old-growth forests of Northern Lapland are some of the last ancient forests in Europe. The agreement saves eight of these old-growth forest areas. One of these areas is home to the Sámi people and herds of reindeer. The Sámi people are among the largest indigenous groups living in northern Europe and are reindeer herders by tradition. As such, they rely on the remaining old-growth forests for tree- hanging lichen and other food sources for their herds.
For years, the Sámi reindeer herders have called on the government to protect important areas of reindeer forests from industrial logging. Yet the Finnish government prioritised other forms of land use. Piece by piece, the reindeer grazing grounds were destroyed.
In 2002, Greenpeace, along with the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, joined the struggle to save the forests and end a long-standing dispute between conservationists and Finland's State forest service.
The first progress came when, in March 2005, following consumer action by Greenpeace supporters, copy paper giant Xerox announced that it would stop using fibre from Sámi Reindeer Forests in northern Finland. This was a small but significant victory and a direct result of what happens when consumers speak up.
Two months ago, in August, we saw a major victory when government-owned logging company Metsähallitus, signed a 20-year logging moratorium – a result of 7 years of Greenpeace pressure.
And today’s historic agreement will finally bring peace to the forest disputes and offers hope for ancient forests elsewhere. It puts an end to a major Greenpeace campaign on
the intact forest landscapes in the municipalities of Kittilä, Sodankylä, Savukoski and Salla. The work of Greenpeace continues in Lapland by supporting the conservation of herding forests and environment issues throughout the world. You can read more about our previous victories and our current work on our website.
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