Greenpeace activists have blocked the Antares ship in the Finnish port of Kemi to prevent the export of paper linked to the destruction of Europe’s last Primary Forests, in Lapland, destined for the manufacture of magazines.

The world’s largest paper company, Stora Enso, buys wood from Primary Forests that is being cut down by the Finnish government in Lapland, in a challenge to its own environmental legislation, designed to protect endangered species from extinction. In addition, Finland’s Primary Forests are vital for the last indigenous European people, the Sámi people, dedicated to reindeer herding in Lapland, who need these forests to maintain their traditional lifestyle in which grazing and conservation have coexisted in balance for centuries. Sámi cooperatives have on many occasions called on Stora Enso and the Finnish government to stop the felling. At the end of October, a local court ordered the Finnish government to stop logging in one of its grazing areas. The government ignored the order, saying they would not consider ceasing the activity unless the Sámi paid compensation.

Primary Forests regulate and stabilize our climate, filter the air and clean our waters. In Europe we have wiped out the vast majority of Primary Forests and, throughout the planet, only 20% of their original extension is maintained. Two-thirds of all terrestrial species live in these forests but, at the current rate of destruction, they will disappear in a few decades.

Greenpeace is calling on governments to save Primary Forests by protecting large forest areas and establishing international laws that prohibit the trade in timber from illegal or destructive logging.