Forbes takes note of nature management measures by Finnish forest companies
Finnish forest industry companies have understood the business risks of nature loss, writes eminent business magazine Forbes.
Forest industry companies Metsä Group, UPM and Stora Enso look for balance between business activity and looking after biodiversity, the international business magazine Forbes writes in a recent article.
The article mentions that the forest industry company UPM participates in projects to conserve the red squirrel and the white-backed woodpecker, for example.
Forbes notes that UPM’s competitor Stora Enso focuses on sparing and increasing deadwood in forests, and on growing birch, which will increase the share of broadleaves in forests and so improve biodiversity.
While both UPM and Stora Enso protect valuable nature sites and give funding to nature projects, the Forbes article focuses on Metsä Group.
Metsä Group manages a forest property of 5.5 million hectares, and one of the company’s principal aims is to support biodiversity, Forbes writes. The European Union and its member states have committed to setting biodiversity on the road to recovery by 2030.
The company has started a project focusing on restoring species habitats in industrial environments. The first site to be improved is the new bioproduct mill in Kemi, northern Finland, where over 600 hectares will be restored with support from the company.
Open habitats are much faster to restore than forests, where results can take decades.
The company aims to restore the ecosystem on the mill site and its vicinity. The way to do this is to plant species which attract insects. They, in turn, will attract birds. Another experiment is a noise barrier. On an industrial site, results are expected more rapidly than in forest nature.
’Open habitats are much faster to restore than forests, where results can take decades,’ says Jere Nieminen, environmental policy researcher at the environmental group Villi Vyöhyke to Forbes.
Goal: Mainstreaming restoration
If restoration on the Kemi site proves a success, the model will be implemented on other Metsä Group sites in seven countries.
’Our goal and vision is for this to become mainstream across both the public and private sectors,’ says Timo Lehesvirta, Leading Nature Expert at Metsä Group, to Forbes.
To look after forest carbon sinks, Metsä Group supports forest growth with timely fertilizing and ensures compliance with recommendations on forest management.
Forbes notes that forest industry is one of the mainstays of Finnish economy. Its share of Finnish exports is about 18 percent. Over three quarters of Finland’s land area consist of forest, which is why sustainable forestry is a key element in attaining Finland’s climate goals.
Forbes mentions that in 2023, the Federation of Finnish Forest Industries published a road map for safeguarding biodiversity in Finnish forests.
The road map stresses that Finnish forestry is based on endemic tree and forest species. It points out that forests sequester atmospheric carbon and provide Finns with a natural place of recreation.
Lue lisää: Six ways in which forest companies improve forest biodiversity
