On September 13, The Karelia Regional Nature Conservancy (SPOK) requested that Anton Zavalkovsky, the general director of the timber industry holding company Investlesprom, and Yuri Andreichuk, the executive director of the holding company for the Republic of Karelia, change their plans for any logging and road construction in planned Specially Protected Natural Areas (SPNAs) on the Zaonezhsky Peninsula. The reason for the appeal was the written refusal by OOO Medvezhegorsky Lespromkhoz to uphold the moratorium on logging valuable Zaonezhie forests in effect in 2011 and 2012. OOO Medvezhegorsky Lespromkhoz is part of Investlesprom Holding.
NGO SPOK reminded Investelesprom that the timberlands leased by OOO Medvezhegorsky Lespromkhoz on the Zaonezhsky Peninsula are located within the borders of planned SPNAs—the Zaonezhsky Nature Park and the Zaonezhsky Reserve—whose creation was specified in the regional land use plan. Habitats of rare species that are included in the Red Book of the Republic of Karelia and the Red Book of the Russian Federation, as well as High Conservation Value Forests, whose preservation is one of the requirements for the voluntary forest certification held by the holding company, are located in these SPNAs.
Moreover, as stated in NGO SPOK’s appeal, Investlesprom Holding’s executives previously declared a policy of responsible forest management and forest conservation by announcing that the “businesses of the holding company and their subcontractors are required to use only legal methods of procuring timber and to demand guarantees of the legal origin of the forest products that they receive from their suppliers and subcontractors. They cannot buy illegally logged timber, timber logged in violation of traditional rights or civil laws, or timber logged in High Conservation Value Forests that are threatened by commercial operations.”
Appendix 1. The letter from “Directorate of Protected Areas”
Appendix 2. Resolution Working Group (Murmansk 27-28.03.2012)
Appendix 3. Policy of responsible forest management ZAO “Investlesprom”
Appendix 4. The letter position ZAO “Investlesprom” to the NGO “SPOK” on HCVF
Appendix 5. Answer OOO Medvezhiegorsky Lespromkhoz
Appendix 6. The protocol meting on Zaonezhie
