From: p37006r@kaira.hut.fi (Matti Ikonen)
Subject: NEWS: Finnish Forest Action was a success!
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 18:12:57 GMT

Thankyou all of you who participated our fax campaign some weeks ago.
Your faxes saved some forest. We will still continue to our efforts to
protect more of the old-growth forests of Finland. Contact us if you
want information about the situation here and our next campaign.

Here's an article I wrote for The Taiga News, which is a relatively
new magazine of the Taiga Rescue Network. This article tells something
about what happened.


Taiga Rescue Network in practical use

Right after the Jokkmokk meeting we in the environmental section of the Student
Union of Helsinki University found out that Finnish government is about to
reduce budget funding for nature protection.  When the bulk of the forest land
in Finland is privately owned, the funding for buying these lands is important.
Some ministers in government even spoke for stopping conservation programmes
before they are completed. 

We found out the day of crucial decisions, Black Wednesday, 21.10. We had
relatively short time to react. Only one night and a pub was needed when our
decision was clear, something must be done! 

Four reporters wrote articles in major newspapers after received some facts
from us about the situation. We wrote an action alert and a example of a fax
supposed to be send to Finnish government. Our campaign was named to
Finnish Forest Action. We faxed these letters to 90 NGO+s. We e-mailed
these to env-link in internet and to several newsgroups in internet and
econet. Dear friends from TRN were first and most active to react. Our
government is still after two weeks receiving demands to protect more
than 0.53 % of our forests. We estimate that some 50 faxletters so far
has arrived to our government.  

WWF and The Finnish Society for Nature Conservation organised a press
conference in Tuesday the 20.10. They were worried about the rumours of
the coming cuttings in conservation. In the press conference these
conservative conservation organisations threatened to start publicising
forest situation of Finland if government makes bad decisions. Our
Finnish Forest Action could already spread a pile of twenty faxletters
to the press, thanks to you! We had passed on these faxes  to the
Central Association of Finnish Forest Industry. In the Tuesday 
afternoon their director of environmental issues, Mr. Pertti Laine called us
and asked if I could "affect somehow to this campaign, to put it down,
now when we released this press info sheet?" Then he read their info
sheet. "... Also in southern Finland old-growth forests and other
objects with special nature value should still be surveyed and
protected. ... Nationally important international image issues should
not be endangered by exaggerations in Finnish discussion...." CAFFI
also made their point clear to our government. I believe only industry
was able to really affect to prime minister Esko Aho. 

Government decided in their Wednesday meeting to form a working group of
ministers to consider environmental issues including forest protection. We see
this a positive step that could develop forest protection. 

Our work continues now with making a larger proposal for forest protection
programme. We have time only to the end of this year. Our goal is to at least
double the current proposal. We are short of time, money, data and off road
cars. 

We continue our efforts to expand the area in the survey of the old-growth
further north by next year.  After negotiations in Environmental ministry
Riuskanselkonen, a  forest of 640 ha laying outside the survey area, was just
decided to save and only 7 ha from it to cut. In the spring  training course
for voluntary forest surveyors will be held at University of Helsinki.

After newspapers Finnish Forest Action with your faxes made prime minister Aho
somewhat angry. We are very sorry.


Matti Ikonen
Secretary of environmental affairs
Student Union Of Helsinki University
E-mail Matti.Ikonen@hut.fi



Matti.Ikonen@hut.fi
Newsgroups: sci.environment