Open letter to Eskil Erlandsson Minister for Rural Affairs German environmental NGOs demand a change in Swedish forestry Dear Mr. Erlandsson, we the signed representatives of German environmental and nature conservation organizations want to express our deep concern about the fact that the Swedish government allows a forestry practice that is responsible for the dwindling of parts of the last European wilderness areas. Germany is one of the big national customers of Swedish wood and wood products. Thus around 20 % of the pulp and paper products used here in Germany come from Swedish forests. The environmental awareness of our citizens is comparatively high. Therefore it is very important for us that these products originate from a sustainable forestry that does not endanger the biological diversity in Sweden’s forests. Some representatives of our organizations have visited Sweden several times in recent years to take a closer look at the effects of your forestry practice. They became deeply concerned after they realized, in several cases, that logging has occurred in pristine forest areas and forest habitats that are vital for endangered plant and animal species. They also saw areas of natural forest for which the forest owners received government authorization for clear cutting, although the existence of a whole range of red listed species was documented there. All of this is incompatible with our expectations of a sustainable forestry.

The fact that clear cutting represents the standard method of tree harvesting in Sweden's various forest and woodland communities cannot be reconciled with our understanding of sustainable forest management either. The Swedish Law on Forestry and your national forestry policy are very strongly designed to encourage forest owners to manage their forests on their own responsibility in such a way that the biodiversity is not impaired. In this context, your government places a lot of confidence in the two voluntary forest certification systems PEFC and FSC. German consumers at any rate also place a lot of confidence in the ecologically and socially more prestigious FSC certificates. Though some of us are also representatives of FSC member organizations, we have noticed that even this more stringent certification system does not consistently ensure the protection of pristine forest areas in Sweden. We are familiar with publications by Swedish environmental and nature conservation organizations such as the SSNC which document the destruction of pristine forest areas and habitats worthy of protection by certified forest owners. We have registered the great and growing disappointment of Swedish environmental organizations about this lack of effectiveness in the certification systems. Today the stock of existing natural woodland in Sweden has become so small that it can no longer ensure the protection of the severely threatened biodiversity in the forests. We therefore find it all the more incomprehensible that your policies still permit the clear cutting of natural forests and the destruction of the habitats of endangered species. We are convinced that more effective regulations for protecting forest biodiversity are desperately needed in Sweden’s forestry sector. We therefore call upon you, Mr. Erlandsson, to regulate management practices in Sweden’s forests so that the protection of their biodiversity is guaranteed in the future. As environmental organizations in a country that uses large amounts of Swedish wood products, we are deeply concerned about the ongoing loss of the last original, pristine and near-natural forest areas in Sweden.

With respect and a request for a prompt opinion,

Dr. Rudolf Fenner, Forest Department, WOOD e.V., Nernstweg 32-34, D-22765 Hamburg [email protected], Tel.: +49.40.380892.11, Fax: +49.40.380892.14, www.robinwood.de

This letter was written and signed jointly by ROBIN WOOD and the following organizations:

Wolfgang Kuhlmann

Oliver Salge

ARA - Arbeitsgemeinschaft Regenwald und Artenschutz e.V.

Head of Forests and Ocean Campaign

[email protected]

[email protected]

Nicola Uhde

Stefan Adler

Forests, Peatlands, Intern. Biodiversity Policy

Forest Policy Officer

BUND Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland

NABU Naturschutzbund Deutschland

Greenpeace Germany

Friends of the Earth Germany [email protected]

Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union [email protected]

Sylvia Hamberger

Hermann Edelmann

GÖF Gesellschaft für Ökologische Forschung

Pro Regenwald [email protected]

[email protected]

Dr. Volkhard Wille

Agnes Dieckmann

Board

Consumer Campaigns

OroVerde - Die Tropenwaldstiftung

Urgewald

[email protected]

[email protected]

László Maráz

Stephen Wehner

Coordinator of Forest Dialogue Platform

Board

Forum Umwelt und Entwicklung

Bergwaldprojekt e.V.

Forum Environment and Development [email protected]

[email protected]