Driving sustainable forestry in Russia
STORA ENSO OYJ Press Release 14 December 2006 at 09.00
Driving sustainable forestry in Russia
Helsinki, Finland, 14 December 2006: A coalition of two Russian
logging companies, four of the worlds largest users of paper
products and one of the most important paper producers today
released a project report From Russia
with Transparency
documenting the key success factors in enhancing business
practices, labour safety, and sustainable forestry in the
Russian forest sector. The report is the outcome of a three-year
joint effort to improve environmental and social performance in
the Russian wood supply chain.
Together with the Russian partners work was done to improve
safety training for forestry workers, introduce new logging
technology, apply for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forest
certification, and implement new guidelines and reporting
practices. The work was observed and the findings were reviewed
by Transparency International and the Russian Karelian Research
Center.
The project partners span the entire supply chain from the
Russian forests to international paper and board markets. The
Tikhvin-Chalna Project received its name from the communities
where the Russian logging companies, Russkiy Les (Tikhvin) and
Shuyales (Chalna) are located. The paper producer is Stora Enso
and the three publisher partners are Axel Springer, The Random
House Group UK, and Time Inc. Tetra Pak represents liquid food
and beverage carton manufacturing in the project team.
Positive feedback from external observers
"The project team should be congratulated for addressing the
issue of legality and business ethics in the forest sector,"
said Kenneth Rosenbaum of Transparency Internationals Forest
Integrity Network. The project's objective for legal matters,
including business ethics, was to create guidelines and
implement them. In the future, the partners will need to give
some thought to how they will measure the success of their
programmes of business ethics."
Galina Kozyreva, Senior Researcher of the Karelian Research
Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences concurs: The results
are reviewed in the context of current legislation, corporate
guidelines and international standards of sustainable forestry.
The project partners' progressive third-party verifications
increase the credibility and transparency of the supply chain.
Ensuring legal origin of wood and sound business practices
The legal origin of wood and integrity of business practices are
addressed through improved business guidelines and a third-party
verified wood traceability system to monitor the legal origin of
wood. Stora Enso's traceability system in Russia includes
annually more than 200 field audits of logging sites, where
legal documentation, environmental and labour safety aspects are
checked.
Achieving improvements in labour safety
The project demonstrates important results in labour safety
thanks to the adoption of new logging technology, training, and
safety equipment. A major occupational safety programme at Stora
Enso's newly acquired subsidiaries in Russia works to bring the
number of all work-related accidents to a target level of zero.
Accomplishing sustainable forestry
Victor Pladov, Chairman of the Board of Shuyales states. "We
started the work in Shuyales by organising a workshop for our
employees, contractors and the local forest management
authority. We discussed labour safety, business practices and
sustainable forestry, and agreed upon a roadmap for enhancing
sustainable forestry."
"A major achievement was that Russkiy Les and four other Stora
Ensos Russian subsidiaries prepared more than 400,000 hectares
of forest lease areas for FSC forest management and chain-of-
custody certification. The auditing process was started in March
2006," said Kauko Parviainen, Senior Vice President, Stora Enso
Wood Supply Russia.
Project benchmarks
Over the course of the project, the partners have been actively
engaged in various sustainability initiatives.
The main contribution of The Random House Group UK was
achieving FSC chain-of-custody certification, the first consumer
book publisher worldwide to do so. We therefore particularly
welcome Stora Ensos FSC forest management certification process
of its forest lease areas in Russia, said Katherine Hockley,
Production Manager of Random House.
Florian Nehm, Sustainability Officer at Axel Springer AG, said:
"For us, sustainability is a matter of credibility. Development
of transparent sustainability reporting was one goal of the
collaboration. The Axel Springer Sustainability Report 2005 is
the first benchmark of verified social reporting in the
publishing sector, and in compliance with the GRI (Global
Reporting Initiative) indicators."
David Refkin, Director of Sustainable Development at Time Inc.,
added: "We joined the project for many reasons. One key result
was Stora Ensos implementation of FSC group forest
certification in Russia, which helps us reach our certified
sustainable forestry targets for our paper suppliers."
"We want consumers to feel that the packaging that protects
their drinks also protects their environment. This project
demonstrates industry leadership in improving every aspect of
sustainability. And, to prove that through forest certification
and full traceability of the origin of wood," said Mario Abreu,
Forestry Director of Tetra Pak.
Dissemination of results continues
The focus now is on sharing the project results and best
practices with other wood suppliers in Russia. This will be
implemented through Stora Enso's supplier audits and trainings.
In June 2006, the seven project partners and the two critical
reviewers jointly launched this process at Stora Enso's supplier
seminar in the Russian Karelia. The results of the Tikhvin-
Chalna Project are also shared through a project report, a
newsletter and a website www.tikhvinproject.ru. The website
includes a film from a workshop in Russian Karelia in summer
2006.
The project partners will continue to, individually, support
Stora Enso in this work when appropriate.
For further information please contact:
Kauko Parviainen, Senior Vice President, Stora Enso Wood Supply
Russia,
tel. +358 400 891 460
Victor Pladov, Chairman of the Board, Shuyales, tel. +7 81 456
45368
David Refkin, Director of Sustainable Development, Time Inc.,
tel. +1 212 522 3356
Katherine Hockley, Production Manager, the Random House Group
UK,
tel. +44 207 840 8746
Florian Nehm, Corporate Sustainability Officer, Axel Springer,
tel. +49 302 591 793 70
Mario Abreu, Director, Forestry and Recycling, Tetra Pak, tel.
+46 46364545
Kenneth Rosenbaum, Expert Advisor, Forest Integrity Network of
Transparency International, tel. +1 703 333 5315
Galina Kozyreva, Senior Researcher, Karelian Research Center,
tel. +7 906 209 7910
Central press contact:
Johanna Grönroos, Stora Enso
tel. +358 400 938 421 or +44 787 639 0808, e-mail
johanna.gronroos@storaenso.com
For more information, and to download a copy of the project
report, visit: www.tikhvinproject.ru
Photos available at:
http://bmt.storaenso.com/storaensolink2006.jsp?imageid=061214
Please, copy the link onto your web browser.
STORA ENSO OYJ
p.p. Anu Vesmanen Jukka Marttila