I imagine that none of the other writers invited on this trip want to feel responsible for the destruction of the forests for just publishing a book. We would think that the wood pulp is obtained from repopulated forests and managed in a responsible manner by the timber merchants and companies in the paper industry. This profession would otherwise be impossible. Imagine poor J. K. Rowling being crushed by the responsibility of her successes. Apparently the North American edition of her last Harry Potter book has entailed the felling of a forest equivalent to the size of 20 football pitches. Thanks to God, the majority of us writers do not have to carry that burden.

However it is very concerning to think that our supposedly peaceful and inoffensive literary activity could have dramatic consequences on nature. This was the reason why we decided to go on the trip to Finland.

What we discovered was a bit like a box of surprises, like those Russian dolls that you keep opening to find another inside. We discovered that the apparent confrontation between Greenpeace and the timber merchants is in actual fact hiding an old, deep-rooted conflict between the Sámi people (the Lapps) and the Finnish State. The Sámi originally called Greenpeace to ask for their help with the unstoppable progression of the felling. Representatives from the community explained to us how the state had ignored their claims on numerous occasions. They want to remain as they are, indigenous people with their lifestyle based on breeding reindeer. However these primitive forests provide the essential food source for the reindeers and in the winter when they are unable to graze due to the snow and ice their nutrients come from the liquid produced in the branches of the trees. Without these ancient trees, there are no reindeers. Without reindeer there are no Lapps. It is as simple as that.

It is a conflict that has been witnessed in many parts of the world, where indigenous towns fight against the modern states to maintain their identity and way of life.

The second surprise we were faced with was that the methods used in this conflict are not any different to those in a country like Brazil, not something you would imagine in a Nordic country. To give an example: A week before our arrival a Greenpeace volunteer received a death threat from a Metsahallitus (state timber company) employee. The difference with it happening in Finland is that the police intervened immediately. The man was armed and the threat was sufficiently credible for the Greenpeace directors to ask its volunteer to temporarily leave the country. As well as this threat, surprising and ridiculous intimidation methods were also being used. A few metres from Greenpeace´s “Surveillance post” that had been set up on the edge of a forest (consisting of a couple of containers fitted out as a home and office with sufficient technology to mark out the indigenous areas, to carry out all types of measuring and lived in by a team of international NGO volunteers) the timber merchants set up their camp with obvious intentions of provoking them. My wife and I were witness to this as we wanted to spend the night there. We were woken several times by the high-pitched sound of a siren. Later it was the noise of the engines from snow scooters and later the shouting from the timber merchants prowling around our post. “They are like children,” remarked a young Finnish Greenpeace biologist the following morning, and she was the young one.

The third surprise was that the timber merchants such as Metsahallitus and Stora Enso (suppliers of vast quantities of paper to the Spanish editorial sector) refused to meet us. We wanted to listen to what they had to say, to hear their point of view, and to ask them if it was really necessary to destroy those last primitive forests so that the Europeans could read the tabloids and gossip magazines. We also wanted to ask them if 21^st century technology is not capable of saving those trees without reducing paper production and if they agree with the FSC¹. But they closed the door on us, which seemed rather suspicious.

The climax of the trip was on the last day during a press conference. The television cameras were able to film for prosperity Ari Vatanen´s participation, he is the Finnish parliament member in the European parliament (chosen by a Southern French constituency!) who launched a violent scathing attack against Greenpeace saying “they lack legitimacy for coming and interfering in Finnish internal affairs”. He called us puppets in the hands of the NGO and asked me “Imagine if we came to Spain and told you and the wine merchants what you have to do with your vineyards?” It was exactly what the Europeans had done when Spain entered the EU, and not only with the vineyards but with the cows in Asturias and the digging up of the olive trees, to give just a couple of examples, I replied. If Europe is a continent that can have a Finnish Parliament chosen by the French that defends the timber industry against the minority interests then he has to recognise that in Europe, it is also possible that a group of writers can support the demands of this minority. You would like to think that Europe is Europe for everyone.

Mr Vatanen however didn’t want to comply with these causes. He came to say exactly what the timber merchants wanted to hear, and that was that Greenpeace was the devil incarnate and was threatening their job positions. He didn’t even mention the Sámi or the primitive forests.

Finally it was the French writer Francesca Aurélie Filipetti who settled the debate “Europe will not allow these forests to be destroyed. Sooner or later the paper industry will have to adapt to and accept the FSC´s standards and recycled paper. If Mr Vatanen really wants to help the paper industry he should start by helping his people to adapt to the reality.”

On leaving when a journalist asked me what my conclusions were, I told him that I would still like to stress an old claim, which is asking my book editor and publishers to use both certified and recycled paper. The first time I tried this was with my first book “Footpaths of Freedom” which was about the fight defending the Amazon forests, it was logical. However I recall Mario Lacruz, my editor looking at me as if I was crazy, I was not taken seriously.

I will however continue trying and to convince, now more than ever, it is a battle that finally will be won. It is for pure common sense and for pure survival instincts.