The EU‘s new action plan against illegal logging is flawed unless it also includes the Baltic states, WWF claims.
The conservation group claims extensive illegal logging is taking place in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It estimates 15-25% of all logging in Latvia is illegal along with 40-50% in Estonia, while Sweden and Finland are major purchasers of the wood.
A two-year mapping project in the Baltics by WWF and BirdLife shows that 17% of forests surveyed are highly valuable. Lithuania was found to have the biggest percentage of High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF) at 32%, followed by Estonia (15%) and Latvia (10%).
The project claims less than 1% of HCVF stands in Lithuania and 8% in Latvia are strictly protected, while in Estonia most of the stands are outside of protected areas.
Specific action advice is being given to the countries based on the results of the mapping project.
