The Biodiversity Conservation Center
The Finnish Nature League
The Greenpeace Russia
The Socio-Ecological Union
PRESS RELEASE
Logging in the Fennoscandia's Largest Old-growth Forest Area Will Start Next Year
The Russian-Finnish seminar arranged by the Finnish Forest Industries Federation
on 30-31th of May Pjaozersky (Pjaojarvy) - the forestry village in northwestern Karelia,
next to the Russian-Finnish border, has failed to yield any results except general discussion
of possible solutions of the conflict over the fate of Paanajarvi-Kutsa wilderness area, despite
of the practical initiatives made by the environmental organisations. The Chairman of the
Pjaozersky Logging Company 's Board of Directors Mr. Sankin and Vice-chairman of the
Karelian Government Mr. Zhitny assured NGO representatives that a dialog between the
Karelian Government and the environmental organisations will continue.
"Meanwhile the Pjaozersky Logging Company announced in the seminar that road
construction in the Paanajarvi-Kutsa wilderness area continues in autumn and large scale
logging starts next year independently on the environmental NGOs' position", said Otso
Ovaskainen, the Finnish Nature Leagues coordinator for Russian forests. As the negotiation
process was initiated without a concrete goal and time-table, there is a threat that the fragmentation
of the wilderness area continues while discussion goes on.
During the 27-year long operation, the Pjaozersky Logging Company almost totally relied on
selling raw wood to Finnish forest industry, particularly to Stora-Enso and Polkky. Huge amounts
of non-processed wood exports have lead to drastic exhaustion of forest resources in the area.
Trying to preserve the traditional type of management the Pjaozersky Logging Company now faces
the acute lack of easy-to-cut forest resources. As a result, its interest has focused on logging in the
unique wilderness area located north of the Paanajarvi National Park. The part of this area has been
recently leased to the company for logging.
The main barrier for these plans has been the old-growth logging moratorium announced since
1996 by Stora-Enso - the main buyer of the Pjaozersky Logging Company. All over these years Russian
environmental NGOs many times contacted the company and the Karelian Government to find an
appropriate solution that will allow both sustainable development of the settlement and preservation
of the unique nature area. Unfortunately, these attempts failed because of rigid opposition from both the
company's directorate and the Karelian Government, while some one-sided steps by NGOs have not led
to any progress.
At the seminar the Director General of the Pjaozersky Logging Company Mr. Fedchik again refused
from any compromise suggested by NGOs representatives. "We were even ready to take part in developing
a forest management plan for part of the wilderness area", - said Alexei Yaroshenko, the forest campaigner
of Greenpeace Russia: "As a compensation, we demanded that part of the wilderness area should be officially
excluded from logging plans. However, both the Karelian Government and the Pjaozersky Logging Company
rejected our compromise."
"We have been under the unprecedented pressure by a social rhetoric", - said Dmitry Aksenov, the
Russian coordinator of the Taiga Rescue Network: "The clear goal of arguing was to withdraw the moratorium
on logging old-growth forests. However, logging down of one of the most valuable old-growth areas in whole
Europe cannot solve the problems of the village. Continuation of the old-style management practices - large
scale clearcuts and selling non-processed wood - leads to the dead end."
Under such a scenario the last resources of mature forests will finish soon as they have already finished
in other areas where the Pjaozersky Logging Company operated. The only viable alternative is to shift towards
sustainable forestry practices with an increasing share of selective and intermediate logging, local wood
processing and development of alternative businesses like fisheries. At the territory already logged by the
Pjaozersky Logging Company there are several hundred thousand hectares of young forests, which require
significant management efforts.
"Management of these forests to an economically productive condition would enhance local employment,
ensure logging possibilities for the future and provide raw-material for the forest industry already in the current
situation", said Otso Ovaskainen in the Pjaozersky seminar. "The Finnish forest industry has purchased and
further processed already ca. 7 million cubic meters wood from the Pjaozersky area. Now it should take part
in the management of the logged areas at least as enthusiastically as purchasing raw wood from new and new
clearcuts".
While developing wood processing capacities in the village to reduce the dependence of local economy on
vanishing mature forests, the company, ironically, is not going to decrease logging rates in areas of valuable
old-growth forests. This is also in a deep contradiction with the current plans for establishment of the Kutsa
National Park projected at the north of this wilderness area (Murmansk Oblast), which is also proposed to be
extended to Paanajarvi National Park in Northern Karelia. According to the company's officials, there are plans
to connect a new road through Paanajarvi-Kutsa wilderness area with an existing one to the Russian-Finnish
border, make new crossing point and transport timber directly to Finland missing the village itself. "Stora-Enso,
which is the biggest customer of the Pjaozersky Logging Company, has to decide the kind of development it is
willing to support", - said Dmitry Aksenov.
Further information:
Otso Ovaskainen / Finnish Nature League, +358-050-309-2795, otso@sll.fi
Alexei Yaroshenko / Greenpeace Russia, +7-095-257-4118, alexey@greenpeace.ru
Dmitry Aksenov / Socio-Ecological Union, +7-095-124-7934, picea@online.ru
Mikhail Karpachevskiy / Biodiversity Conservation Center, +7-095-124-7178, forest@bcc.seu.ru
http://www.luontoliitto.fi/forest/russia/paanajarvi
http://www.forest.ru/eng/hot_spots/pjaozero
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