Environmental watchdogs angry with Finland and Sweden
Environmental organisation World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on Thursday accused Sweden and Finland, Europe's most heavily forested countries, of exploiting loopholes in the law to cut down forests that should be protected, in a departure from European Union policy.
WWF says the two Nordic countries are failing to meet their commitments under the EU's Green Deal, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, and the Biodiversity Strategy, which provides for special protection of old-growth, semi-natural forests and old-growth forests (forests untouched by human activity).
In a new report, the organisation says Helsinki and Stockholm are trying to take advantage of inaccuracies in EU guidelines, which could become loopholes, to get permission to log old-growth and old-growth forests.
„Publicly available evidence shows that both Finland and Sweden are diverging from EU policy, said WWF Finland forest expert Mai Suominen. –This cannot continue if we are to seriously address the climate and biodiversity crises.“
In the report, WWF makes a series of recommendations to Finland and Sweden, to private companies with interests in forests in both countries, and to the EU, including a call on the European Commission (EC) to monitor Member States' implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy.
The report comes ahead of an EC seminar in Helsinki on Monday and Tuesday to discuss the conservation of ancient forests.
„The consequences of inaction would be severe. Continued logging of old-growth forests and old-growth forests will not only undermine Europe's environmental goals, but will also undermine public confidence in national governments and in the EU itself," said WWF's Anke Schulmeister-Oldenhove. The EC seminar in Helsinki should be a turning point. We call on decision-makers to turn words into action and ensure that Europe's last great forests are protected before it is too late.
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