Growing the Forest Movement
intensively monitoring natural forests
Come and join the environmental movement's campaign to stop forest loss!You can find our monitored destinations here
Metsäliike, Greenpeace and Luontoliitto’s metsäryhmä declare intensive monitoring of state natural forests from October 2025 and demand accountability from forest companies. More than a hundred volunteers will monitor natural forests across Finland, monitor logging notifications and, if necessary, trace felled trees.
Thanks to the extensive groundwork of nature surveyors and Luontovahti-service regular people, no logging of state natural forests will go unnoticed by us, and the companies that buy wood from them will not get away with it. Metsähallitu and forest companies have not agreed to secure these sites, so ordinary citizens must take action.
Old forests are a habitat for numerous threatened species. In addition, forests are irreplaceable carbon sinks and stores. In the face of the deepening climate crisis, carbon stores should be maximized for the next few decades. This means that the carbon in trees and soil must be allowed to remain bound to living, thriving and aging forest ecosystems. At current logging levels, Finland cannot achieve its climate goals, let alone stop nature loss.
Only a fraction of our country's natural forests remain. Even a significant part of these are under threat of logging.
Petteri Orpo's government chose to exclude many natural forests from protection in its criteria for old-growth forests. The Finnish Environment Institute characterized the criteria as a deliberate distortion of scientific knowledge. The government further increased logging pressure by raising Metsähallitus' performance targets in the autumn of 2025.
The state's natural forests are our common property. Now Metsähallitus and large forest companies, such as UPM, Metsä Group and Stora Ensoare ready to cut down forests that do not meet Orpo government's criteria.
Despite their fine sustainability speeches, the forest companies have repeatedly been caught violating certifications, luonnonmetsähakkuista ja viherpesusta.
The three largest forestry companies now hold the keys to the solution – they could, by their own decision, secure Finland's remaining state-owned natural forests. Until the companies commit to not using natural forest wood in their production facilities, every natural forest outside protection is under threat of logging.