ARKKHANGELSK, northern Russia (dpa) – The technology at once impresses and horrifies: In half a minute the tracked logging machine saws through a 20-metre high, 200-year-old spruce tree, lifts it into the air and dumps it onto a growing pile.
“We destroy everything,” grins Ramil Saineyev, whose small brigade fells about 200 trees of all sizes during a shift.The scene is repeated daily along the River Dvina in the northern Russian region of Arkhangelsk, where ecologists say dozens of logging companies are decimating one of Europe’s last ancient forests to meet demand for timber in Finland, Norway, Germany and other countries.Few people here worry about damage to the 15,000-square-kilometre expanse of woodland, which is one of the last European refuges of the brown bear. On the contrary, most still believe the resources are inexhaustible and must be harvested as fast as possible.“I’ve never even heard of any conservation plans for this forest,” said local woodsman Anatoly Spitsin, 46, who supports his wife and one child on a monthly wage of 2,500 roubles (about 85 U.S. dollars).“If people want to stop this work, they must resettle all of us somewhere else, this is what we live on.”Meanwhile, the environmental organization Greenpeace says Western European firms do good business from 30 million cubic metres of wood imported annually from Russia but care little for the consequences, despite stringent standards expected in their own countries.“Germans have a high ecological awareness at home, it would be good to export that,” said Stephan Huettner, a Greenpeace volunteer from Berlin. He joined 15 Russian, German and Austrian activists who protested in March at the German Embassy in Moscow and at sawmills in Arkhangelsk.Russian experts are also concerned by double-standards shown by countries that benefit from Russia’s natural wealth.“It’s normal that the West sees Russia as a source of raw material – the offence lies in it expecting only fast enrichment from Russia without thinking of the future,” said Dr. Alexei Yablokov, who was adviser to former president Boris Yeltsin on ecological matters.The environmentalists are now seeking a practical solution that can work for all sides.“You can’t effectively protect the forests unless you get an income from them,” acknowledged Greenpeace forest campaigner Oliver Salge.Suggestions include encouraging Russian forest managers and companies to work toward receiving the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certificate, which is regarded worldwide as credible, independent proof of ecologically sound use of woodland.Under the system, forest tracts are not simply cut clear regardless of the age of the trees, but logged selectively, taking the older trees first and safeguarding other areas. In another 30 years the next generation of trees will offer better wood, and the forest doesn’t die out.But Russia must also start to think longterm, said Yablokov, who points out that under President Vladimir Putin conservation issues have fallen even further behind economic policy than under Yeltsin.Ecologists see hope for the forests in heightened awareness among consumers on the Western markets. More companies are starting to ask where and how their wood is cut, more customers want FSC certified products.The German family company HDM-Holz-Dammers from the Rhine region is a pioneer of the FSC system in Russia, introducing it in the three small logging companies it bought by Arkhangelsk. 75 per cent of the production goes to export.The certificate requirements are tough but the effort is beginning to pay dividends said Dammers’ local representative, Iosif Rombs. “We can’t keep up with the orders.”
