In 1999
the Finnish government approved a National Forest Programme (NFP)
to direct Finland’s forest policies in the years 2000–2010. The main
aim of the NFP is to increase logging volumes by 5–10 million cubic
metres from current levels as well as to further increase subsidies
granted to commercial logging operations. The NFP’s Environmental
Impact Assessment from 1999 states that further increasing logging
volumes from their already intensive levels is an ecological risk,
and will cause an even steeper decline in forest biodiversity unless
forest protection is improved simultaneously.
An expert
committee appointed by the Ministry of Environment to evaluate the
need for forest protection in southern Finland completed its report
in 2000 (Ympäristöministeriö 2000). The committee found a clear
need for protection of all forest types in southern Finland, South-West
Lapland and the western part of Oulu province. The Finnish government
then appointed a wide-ranging committee of forest sector interest
groups to plan an action programme based on the findings of the expert
committee.
However,
this committee decided not to propose a protection programme, but
to postpone it by at least five years. During these five years various
pilot projects will be carried out. These projects are useful as such
but are insufficient to protect the forest biodiversity of the area.
The
decision to postpone a clearly needed protection programme has been
criticised widely by environmental organisations, scientists, and
ecological research institutes. In the intervening years, many
forests important for biodiversity will be logged.
Finland’s
actions are in stark contrast to those of Sweden, where scientists’
warnings of similar impeding forest extinctions have been taken seriously.
As a result, depending on the region, in the long term Sweden is committed
to protecting 9–16 per cent of her forest lands, with a total of 900
000 forest hectares earmarked for protection already by 2010.
[Excerpt
from an NGO-publication Palaako elävä metsä?]
