By Daisy Ayliffe - 18th September 2006
Environmentalists have accused the Finnish EU presidency of importing illegal Russian timber.
In a report by Greenpeace international, Finland is accused of “wide-spread illegal logging” from the Russian Republic of Karelia.
“Campaigners witnessed timber being harvested in violation of Russian forest and environmental laws, then transported across the border…” Greenpeace say in a statement.
“Products are exported throughout Europe and beyond, as far as Japan.”
Anders Bortin, Director of international forest policy in the Finnish ministry of agriculture told this website the Finn’s have pushed the concept of illegal logging up the environmental agenda.
“We were talking about logging long before others did not want to, now we all agree it is a common problem,” he said.
But the Finnish official accepts that the Greenpeace allegations do little to bolster his country’s green credentials.
“Certainly this is not good for us,” he said.
“We import 20 to 25 per cent of the wood we use and this is mostly from Russia. We have several companies that import and we here in the government rely very much on those companies. Over the last few years the contractors have made an effort to get to know their counterparts in Russia.”
Greenpeace is one of a number of NGOs calling for tough EU-wide legislation to ban illegal timber and to ensure that all timber products on the market come from responsibly managed forests.
Current EU legislation in this area is based on voluntary partnerships with third countries.
In 2005, Brussels adopted the action plan for forest law enforcement, governance and trade (FLEGT.)
“The idea of FLEGT is that Brussels wants to prevent illegal logs entering the EU but we cannot have a generic regulation because that be against WTO stipulations. So the EU has made voluntary partnerships with certain countries like Ghana, Cameroon and also Russia,” Bortin explained.
“But if the third countries do not want to work with the EU then it is difficult for Brussels to do anything.”
The Finns accept that the current EU legislation does need to be strengthened.
“We now need to concentrate on making FLEGT better,” Bortin said.
“It does not function yet but negotiations will start – let’s hope under the Finnish EU presidency – to build upon the framework. But this is an area where the commission plays the major role.”
The Finnish EU presidency says it has invited the European commission to make proposals on complimenting the FLEGT scheme at a meeting on October 11.
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