Reindeer in the Lappi
reindeer herding cooperative.
02/03/2005 — Despite talk from Finnish government
bureaucrats and protestations of innocence
from paper giant Stora Enso, the fact remains
that the Finnish government is breaking promises.
Their logging company is logging in supposedly
protected traditional reindeer herding forests
in Arctic Lapland, in defiance of recommendations
from the UN Human Rights Committee. They must
have thought that it was too cold and remote
for us to find them there. They were wrong.
Today, we have established a Forest Rescue
Station in the reindeer forests of Arctic
Lapland, the homeland of the indigenous Sámi
peoples. The Forest Rescue Station, (affectionately
known to some particularly frost-bitten activists
as Ice Station Reindeer) will act as a base
from which we will monitor logging operations
and assist the Sámi reindeer herding
cooperatives in mapping and demarcating important
areas of forests. The activists are living
in a combination of insulated modular containers
and traditional Sámi tents.
"In the face of international human
rights scrutiny, the Finnish government has
chosen to take the business as usual approach,"
said Matti Liimatainen Greenpeace forest campaigner.
"As long as the government continues
to log the last Sámi reindeer forests,
Greenpeace will be active in these areas until
they recognise their importance and stop their
destruction."
In northern Lapland, many Sámi indigenous
peoples still practice traditional reindeer
herding, relying on remaining old-growth forests
to provide vital food for their reindeer during
the cold winter months. The Sámi reindeer
herders have been fighting alone for their
livelihood and have been calling on the government
to protect important areas of reindeer forests
from industrial logging. The Finnish government
has always prioritised other forms of land
uses other than reindeer herding.
The forests have been reduced piece by piece
the government's own logging company, Metsähallitus,
which carries out most of the logging in Lapland.
Seventy-five percent of this wood is sold
for pulp and paper production. The Finnish
paper giant, StoraEnso buys most of the wood
originating from destruction of reindeer grazing
forests. "What's insane is that Sámi's
reindeer herding livelihood is being pulped
to make cheap magazines, copy paper, envelopes
and even disposable tissue paper," said
Liimatainen.
We are calling on the Government of Finland
to:
• Implement an immediate moratorium on all
industrial logging in important Sámi
reindeer forests, as mapped by the Inari reindeer
herding co-operatives and Nellim sub-group.
• Support the negotiation preconditions for
the Natural Resource Plan (NRP) in Upper Lapland,
as set out by the Inari reindeer herding co-operatives
and Nellim sub-group
• Transfer responsibility for State forests
in the Sámi area, including Upper Lapland
and the co-operative of Lappi, to the Metsähallitus
Nature Conservation Department.
• Carry out an ecological gap analysis on
protected areas in the Sámi area.
We are calling on StoraEnso and its customers
to:
• Stop buying wood fibre derived from Metsähallitus's
logging operations in areas mapped by the
Inari reindeer herding co-operatives and Nellim
sub-group.
• Support the negotiation preconditions for
the Natural Resource Plan (NRP) in Upper Lapland,
as set out by the Inari reindeer herding co-operatives
and Nellim sub-group.
