Seventy-four thousand hectares of Russian ancient forest protected: Greenpeace celebrates the creation of Kalevalski National Park

Although the Regional Government of the Russian Republic of Karelia had approved the creation of the national park in August 2002, the Federal Government’s authorization was required as the final seal of approval. On the 4th of December, the Government of the Russian Federation published the decision no 1654 dated 30th November 2006, to make the national park a reality.

“This is a significant victory for Greenpeace and the environmental movement in Russia, but it also symbolizes the immense tenacity required to win these campaigns,” said Oliver Salge, Forests campaigner, Greenpeace International, “We’ve campaigned on this issue since 1995, but when large corporate budgets are weighed in the balance, it often takes a long time for justice to be served.”

Greenpeace started a campaign to save the last ancient forests on the Russian Finnish border in 1995. For years the Finnish paper giants Enso (now known as Stora Enso) and UPM Kymmene have used timber from Russian forests as cheap raw material to fuel their mills, with devastating impacts on the forests. It took several months of campaigning and non-violent direct action in the forests and at the Finnish mills before the paper companies agreed to sign a logging-moratorium at the end of 1996, which was eventually enforced in January 1997. However, since the area was not officially protected, it took constant monitoring by Greenpeace and other environmental groups to prevent the granting of logging concessions. Greenpeace proposed the creation of a national park in the area, a demand that received the support of the Karelian government in 2002. However, the decision remained pending at the Federal Government level for four years.

“It has been a protracted struggle, but one that we hope will serve as an example for other European countries too. It’s high time that other countries, especially Finland, take similar action to save their last remaining ancient forests,” concluded Salge.

For further information, please contact:

Oliver Salge, Forests campaigner, Greenpeace International: +49 171 603 5531

Alexey Yaroshenko, Greenpeace Russia forest campaigner: +7495 926 5045 (ext 300)

Namrata Chowdhary, Greenpeace International Communications: +31 646 1973 27

Pictures and video available from Greenpeace International:

Franca Michienzi, Photo Desk, Greenpeace International, +31 (20) 718 2058

Video: Maarten van Rouveroy, Video Producer, Greenpeace International,+31 6 4619 7322

To locate the Kalevalski National Park on Google Earth, please enter the following coordinates: 65 03 12 N, 30 11 30 E