Responsibility

Biodiversity means the variety of life around us.

Safeguarding biodiversity is a key part of sustainable forest management, but UPM’s actions also influence biodiversity in other ways. Mill sites, as such, can provide various habitats for a number of species. Waste water emissions from the mills have decreased remarkably due to improved management and purification techniques, resulting in improved biodiversity in the water courses into which the emissions are released. In studies, community structures indicating improved ecological status are evident.

GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY PROGRAM IS PART OF OUR EVERYDAY ACTIONS

UPM has a global biodiversity programme that aims to maintain biodiversity in forests as well as promote best practises in sustainable forestry and wood sourcing. UPM has integrated the program in our everyday forest management through our Forestry and Wood Sourcing Rules.

UPM’s biodiversity programme has six key elements with global targets that are important for forest biodiversity:

We have set global targets for each key element. Forestry in each country is different, not just in terms of forest type but also in terms of the history of utilization and local forest legislation. This is why the implementation of UPM's biodiversity programme is based on country level targets and local action plans. 

The great majority of original forest biodiversity is safeguarded by UPM’s operational practices. Native tree species are the keystone species of forest ecosystems, providing food and habitats for the majority of other forest species, i.e. ground vegetation, herbivores, predators and parasites. The positive impact on biodiversity is further strengthened by creating structural variation in the forests. By leaving retention trees and dead trees in the forests, favourable conditions are created for thousands of saproxylic species.

Still, a number of specialised species need a stable habitat with a minimum level of disturbance. In total, some 102,000 hectares of valuable habitats have been defined as areas set aside in UPM’s forests for such species. The protected habitats range from habitats of a fraction of a hectare to large protected areas covering a wide range of different habitats and totalling nearly 30 000 altogether. The area by countries is: Finland 77,000, USA 18,000, UK 2,000 and Uruguay 5,000 hectares.

The flagship of UPM-owned protected areas is the ‘Griffin Forest’ with an area of 1400 ha. It is located next to the state owned Repovesi national park. Together they make an exceptionally large, 2900-ha protected area in southern Finland.

Most of the areas dedicated to preserving biodiversity do not require any human activity. These areas develop slowly over time into natural forests. Some areas, however, benefit from human interaction.

A number of examples of active nature management and restoration projects and activities implemented by UPM can be presented in different countries. These activities are often carried out in co-operation with research and/or environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs). The projects and activities include, among others:

• Peatland restoration in co-operation with Birdlife in Keuruu, Finland

• Peatland restoration in Pihtipudas, Finland with the State Forest and Nature Protection organisation Metsähallitus and the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment. The target area was located in the Natura 2000 area. The exercise was an EU Life-funded project extending over a seven-year period 

• Restoration and management of Yyteri, one of the most important and well-known bird conservation areas in Finland, together with Birdlife Finland

• A project to enhance the habitats (ponds and surroundings) of Triturus cristatus, a species protected by the EU species directive. The project was executed in co-operation with the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in North Karelia over a three-year period

• In the UK, under UKWAS forest certification, a minimum of 15% of the forest management unit has to be managed for biodiversity. This includes open space (grassland, heathland, wetland and bog habitats), semi-natural broadleaf woodland and deadwood provision

• The Black Grouse conservation project was run at Llandegla, Wales, where the heather moor and woodland edge is managed to meet the habitat requirements of the target bird species. This is done in close working relation with the Government’s conservation advisor (Countryside Council for Wales) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

• In Uruguay, an native tree species, the Yatay Palm, is being promoted on company-managed lands in an area of 284 hectares. The Uruguay palm scheme generates a range of biodiversity benefits. It protects the native tree species and habitat by connecting isolated patches of palms. The programme also adds diversity to forest plantations by introducing structural variation

• UPM has launched a project in Uruguay for the conservation of habitats suitable for grassland birds belonging to the genus Sporophila, or capuchinos, as they are known in Spanish. UPM is working together with Aves Uruguay, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) for the study and conservation of birds

The accumulated restoration activities from recent years make up an area of 1000 hectares in Finland alone. Peatlands make up most of the area due to the fact that the individual target areas there are typically large.

Forestry activities always have an impact on biodiversity. This impact is assessed in UPM’s ISO 14 001 system and mitigation methods are established to minimise any harmful impact.

The statutory protected areas are typically so large that the edge effect of forest harvesting in the adjacent commercial forest impacts only a small part of the protected area. In the case of a protected area of 30 hectares, clear felling in the adjacent forest has a temporal impact on 15% of the protected area if all the forests around the protected area are harvested.

In practice, clear felling never covers such a large area and the impact is always temporal. Clear felling next to a protected area also has positive impacts on the biodiversity of the protected area. It results in wind thrown trees in the protected area, leading to dead wood in warm and favourable conditions. The mean clear felling area in Finland is typically small, from 0.7 to 2 hectares. 

ONE OF THE MAIN DRIVERS OF FOREST MANAGEMENT

In May 2008, UPM signed the Leadership Declaration as part of the "Business and Biodiversity Initiative" launched at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn, called "COP 9". UPM supports the Convention’s aim of integrating the business sector to enhance biodiversity.

As one of the world’s largest forest owners and wood users, biodiversity has been one of UPM’s main drivers when developing sustainable forest management practices. Forest biodiversity provides UPM with the company’s main raw material - wood - and provides future options for as yet unknown, unutilised resources. Preserving biodiversity will also help our forests, and the species living in them, to adapt to the potential impacts of climate change.

In addition to UPM’s global biodiversity programme, there are many other ways in which UPM promotes biodiversity: ISO and EMAS certified management systems help in managing issues that impact on biodiversity, as well as forest certification and certified chains of custody through wood supply chains. UPM’s GIS application ensures that all essential information is available during field operations.

UPM provides biodiversity training and workshops for its employees and contractors.

Since Bonn 2008, UPM has contributed to international biological diversity discussions in a set of conferences – in Nuremberg, London, Nagoya and most recently, in November 2011, in Lille, France at The World Forum Lille 2011; see more at World Forum Lille.