UPM owns totally 1.2 million hectares of forestry land in Finland, the UK, Uruguay, and the USA. All UPM's forests are certified and have a management plan based on the principles of sustainability. UPM prepares these management plans in cooperation with a wide range of stakeholders.
In addition, UPM is responsible for the management of privately owned forests in Finland, the UK and Uruguay.
The majority of UPM's forests are mixed forests. Biogeographically, UPM’s forests in Finland are managed semi-natural boreal forests, while those in the USA are managed semi-natural northern temperate woodlands. Both of them only contain indigenous tree species. Our forests in the UK are largely non-native managed Sitka spruce plantations, while those in Uruguay are non-native managed Eucalyptus plantations.
OUR FOREST EXPERTS ARE TRAINED TO MAINTAIN AND INCREASE BIODIVERSITY
UPM's forest managers ensure that the company's own forests are managed in an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable way.
UPM's staff, contractors and suppliers are well trained with a degree in forestry or another suitable subject. They therefore have an extensive knowledge of, for example, forest planning, soil and water protection, biodiversity, landscape management, wildlife control, cultural heritage and archaeology, meeting the various conditions of different countries.
Moreover, in Finland, all field staff and the majority of the logging contractor’s staff have passed the Forestry Sector Nature Care examination, arranged by Tapio Forestry Development Centre since 1996.
In the UK, two major sessions were arranged in 2011 with environmental regulators, i.e. the Environment Agency (England and Wales) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, covering the control of sediment from harvesting operations.
Training is an ever on-going exercise, as new needs arise continuously, e.g. FSC certification in Finland in 2011. All field staff were trained to know the requirements of the new FSC standard.
PARTNER OF WWF'S NEW GENERATION PLANTATIONS PROJECT
UPM has a set of global sustainable forest plantation guidelines, as well as national guidelines for implementing the global framework in the UK and Uruguay. UPM is a partner in WWF's New Generation Plantations project.
The project aims to promote best practices for the design and management of forest plantations. Case studies, including some from UPM in the UK and Uruguay, demonstrate good examples of plantations that maintain ecosystem integrity, high conservation values and contribute to economic growth and employment.
The on-going second phase in the WWF New Generation Plantation Project is focusing on biodiversity, biomass and carbon.
UPM'S FORESTRY AND WOOD SOURCING RULES LEAD EVERYDAY ACTIONS
UPM ensures that it is practising forestry in a sustainable way by implementing common international tools and by developing the company’s own policies and tools with a focus on sustainable forest management.
The company's international forestry operations are governed by Forestry and Wood Sourcing Rules. These operations are covered by third party verified management systems.
Forest certification, the environmental management system (ISO 14001), forest management plans, an up-to-date geographic information system (GIS) and best forestry practices are the key tools of UPM's sustainable forest management.
COMMITTED TO MANAGING FORESTS SUSTAINABLY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
UPM is committed to forest management and forest harvesting practices based on the internationally accepted principles of sustainable forest management.
The UNCED Rio Declaration of 1992 stated that: "Forest resources and forest lands should be sustainably managed to meet the social, economic, ecological, cultural and spiritual needs of present and future generations".
Forests cover different ecological zones across the world: The boreal conifer forests of Canada, Finland and Russia are quite different to the tropical forests of South America and Asia. It is for this reason that the Rio Declaration was followed up by several different international processes which defined sustainable forest management according to local circumstances and the stakeholders involved.
In Europe, the respective national ministers responsible for forestry met in Helsinki in 1993 and agreed on European criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management. The development of sustainable forest management and related issues has continued at subsequent ministerial conferences in Lisbon in 1998, Vienna in 2003, Warsaw in 2007 and Oslo in 2011.
The state of Europe’s forests against the set criteria and indicators can be found in here.