• by IPS Correspondents (by senthil ratnasabapathy vienna)
• Saturday, November 26, 1994
• Inter Press Service

By Senthil Ratnasabapathy VIENNA, Nov 26 (IPS) - The environmental organisation Greenpeace says logging companies are decimating huge tracts of Russian forests with little thought of replacing those trees felled.

Martin Frimmel of Austrian Greenpeace said here this week that it was not only the logging companies who threatened the huge ancient Russian forests but oil companies and firms seeking copper, gold and diamonds.

But, said Frimmel, one of the main dangers facing the forests -- particularly the sensitive Siberian Taiga forests -- is the increasing activities of logging companies who see timber exports as a means of earning foreign currency quickly.

Greenpeace, which sent a special team last month to the region to study the extent of the problem, says it is difficult to calculate the annual timber exports.

This mainly stems from the facts that many of the exports are illegal. However, some estimates put it at more than 20 million cubic metres.

Last year Finland alone imported almost five million cubic metres of woods from Russia, thus overtaking Japan which imported 4.5 million cubic metres. Sweden and Austria are also major importers of Russian woods, Frimmel said.

The vast coniferous forests are located in the extreme north stretching from the Asian part of Russia to Canada and Alaska. The temperatures varies greatly in the forest areas.

During the short summer it rises to 40 Celcius and in winter it drops to as low as minus 50 Celcius. The Russian Taiga forests make up half of the world's coniferous forests and is home to many kinds of flora and fauna.

Besides pine, fir and larch trees, the region also has oak, ash tree, birch and alder trees. The forest also is home to some of the rarest varies of animals and birds including the Siberian Tiger.

Perhaps one of the most important functions of the forest region is role it plays as a catchment area for carbon dioxide (CO2) -- which has been cited as the principal cause of global warming.

According to some estimates, the forests trap at least 40 billion tons of CO2, thereby preventing its release into the atmosphere.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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