Greenpeace activists from across Europe launched a dawn protest this morning at the Botnia pulp mill and the Stora Enso paper mill in the northern Finnish town of Kemi. Unfurling a banner reading "Stop ancient Forest Destruction", forty protestors blocked the main entrances to both mills, preventing deliveries of timber taken from Europe's last ancient forests in northern Lapland.

The world's largest paper company, Stora Enso, and one of Europe's largest pulp producers, Botnia, were today accused of destroying huge tracts of Europe's last remaining ancient forests in Finnish Lapland to make paper for well-known magazines in Europe.

Greenpeace research has shown that Stora Enso uses timber from ancient forest destruction to make magazine paper for nearly all of the leading European publishing houses and supplies almost all leading envelope producers.

"Unless magazine publishers in the UK like IPC and EMP want to be associated with the destruction of thousand year old forests, they should be putting pressure on their suppliers to ensure that they are not sourcing fibre from this area of Finland," said Greenpeace campaigner Ben Ayliffe.

The Finnish government are also linked to this scandal, as the state-owned logging company Metsähallitus recently logged in a number of areas of ancient forests in northern Lapland to supply pulp to the mills at Kemi. The Finnish government also owns around a 25 per cent stake in Stora Enso. Recently, 250 Finnish scientists appealed for a halt to the logging in ancient forests in northern Finland because of the damage it was causing.

"The best way to guarantee your paper is not coming from Europe's last remaining ancient forests is to maximise recycled content and only use virgin fibre that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council," added Ayliffe.

ENDS

For more information contact the Greenpeace press office on 0207 865 8255

In response to the news that the next Harry Potter book will be printed on forest-friendly paper, Belinda Fletcher, head of Greenpeace's forest campaign, said:

"This announcement is great news and means that Harry Potter's magic will be helping to protect the world's ancient forests. Unfortunately, this is not the case for all books printed in the UK.

"But by publishing the forthcoming books on a paper combining recycled and Forest Stewardship Council certified fibre, Bloomsbury are making good on their commitment to go ancient forest friendly."

"It's also great to hear that Bloomsbury are looking to use 100 per cent recycled fibre where possible for other books, which is the most eco friendly option available."

Greenpeace is campaigning to get the book industry to stop sourcing paper from ancient forest regions and move towards using 100 per cent ancient forest friendly paper (1).

Bloomsbury will be printing the next Harry Potter on a mixture of post consumer recycled and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified pulp (2).

Bloomsbury made an initial step towards making Harry Potter ancient forest friendly in 2005 by printing the hardback version of 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' on a 30 per cent FSC certified paper and printing the paperback on paper made from 50 per cent post consumer recycled fibre.

ENDS

1. 1. Ancient forest friendly papers are those that maximise recycled content with any virgin fibre coming from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified sources.
2. 2. The FSC is the only certification scheme that can ensure that the timber products you are buying come from forests that have been managed in an environmentally and socially responsible way.

For more information about the campaign call the Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255.