Paper Company's Russian Forest Passes Audit

UPM's Tikhvinsky Lespromkhoz in Russia has passed a FSC forest management certificate audit for 184,000 hectares of forest leased by the company.

UPM's Tikhvinsky Lespromkhoz in Russia has passed a FSC forest management certificate audit for 184,000 hectares of forest leased by the company.

The assessment was carried out by the auditing company SGS Vostok according to international FSC principles and criteria, said the company.

The auditor recommends to FSC's decision making bodies to grant the certificate.

During 2006 in Russia, UPM said it has focused on developing its logging company, ZAO Tikhvinsky Komplexny Lespromkhoz.

Part of the work has been getting its forest management and wood sourcing practices to fulfil the criteria of the international forest certification standards.

The development areas have been occupational health and safety, as well as accident prevention, environmental issues, wood procurement, forest management planning, administration and staff training.

The successful efforts of the Tikhvinsky Lespromkhoz staff have been supported by several key stakeholders, including researchers, authorities and local stakeholders.

Juri Orlov, general director of Tikhvinsky Lespromkhoz, commented: "The certification of our forest management practices in Russia is the first step towards getting certified products available from UPM's Russian mills.

It also supports our aim of increasing the share of certified wood in our products across the group." Juhani Hongisto, the director responsible for UPM's forestry and wood sourcing in Russia, added: "The next step in this process will be to apply for the FSC chain of custody for our Russian forestry and wood sourcing organisation and mills." UPM said that it aims to increase the amount of certified wood in its products and ensure credible control of the origin of wood through the whole supply chain from the forest to the customer.

The basis for that is forest certification, which is why the company supports all credible forest certification schemes, such as FSC and PEFC.

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