The struggle to protect the Finland’s forest reached its zenith almost eight years ago, between February and April 2005, when Greenpeace established the Forest Rescue Station. Located first on the Finnish-Norwegian border, and then on the Russian border, the Forest Rescue Station was crewed by activists from all over Europe, who hiked, skied and rode snowmobiles through the forest with local reindeer herders to chart and demarcate the forest areas that needed protection. We had mild weather by local standards, but it was a shock for some of the fair-weather southerners; temperatures rarely climbed above -15degC, and that was in the sunshine, with no wind, while at night we camped in -30degC and below. Negotiations between the Saami reindeer herders and the Finnish state forestry company Metsahallitus have resulted in a deal to protect 80% of the forests defined as important by both reindeer herders and Greenpeace in 2002. Greenpeace is campaigning to protect forests in many different parts of the world, such as Indonesia, the Congo and the Amazon; amongst other things, we are also in the midst of long, hard campaigns to save our oceans, protect water resources, and save our climate. The Finnish forest success outcome is a lesson for us all – great things are not only possible, they are inevitable, if we keep maintain our optimism, have faith in our abilities, and have the determination to see our work through to the very end, no matter how long the fight.
Posted on: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 10:24:49 +0000
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