The
Petition for the forests of Southern Finland will be given to the
Finnish Parliament on September 13, 2005. It is no longer possible
to sign the supporter list.
Thank
you for your support!
The
Finnish forest friends's campaign for the Southern Finland's forests
We
the undersigned require that by 2010 Finland raise the amount of protected
forest in South Finland, as well as that of poorly protected parts
of the country's northernmost regions Oulu and Lapland, to five per
cent, and in the longer term to ten per cent, of the country's forested
land.
Finland's
forests and forest landscapes have been impoverished by intensive
commercial forestry to a degree that has affected every Finn's experience
of the natural world. Forests have become younger, their tree composition
varies little, and once even common forest species have become rare.
New nature
reserves are urgently needed to preserve Finland's naturally occurring
forest biodiversity. Creating these reserves would also ensure that
citizens in all parts of the country would have access to the natural
forests they now miss. Around 1500 km2 of forest is clearcut annually
in Finland; this needs to be balanced by increased protection, as
well as more widespread use of environmentally benign forestry methods
in commercial stands.
Currently
only around two per cent of forests are protected in the region covering
all the provinces of South Finland, Pohjanmaa, SW Kainuu, and SW Lapland.
The majority of additional forest nature reserves can be realised
through protecting government, municipal, and company-owned commercial
forests and restoring them to more natural conditions. It is important
to achieve larger protected entities, which also have the greatest
recreational potential. Protection of privately-owned forests will
require the Finnish parliament to approve new financing instruments
with which to compensate landowners.
