Day 058 - 30 Nov 94 - Page 44
1 far as I am aware) the basis on which the analysis
2 continues, those are 1992, the early part of 1992, are
3 looked upon as being a practical and realistic source of
4 information.
5
6 Q. That coincides with your experience of Finland, does it?
7 A. Well, the only way in which I would relate my
8 experience to it is by the information that I have been
9 provided by those who are involved in the forest industry
10 which is referred to in this document to explain and to
11 identify where the problem exists.
12
13 Q. It says here on the third paragraph: "The committee
14 estimates the number of threatened animal and plant species
15 in Finland at 1,692". Then in the fourth paragraph, the
16 second sentence it says: "The majority of all threatened
17 species of 43 per cent".
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Find that difficult to understand but never
20 mind.
21
22 MR. MORRIS: "43 per cent live in forests. By the same reason
23 forestry is the primary cause in 41 per cent of the
24 threatened species for species being threatened". Do the
25 Ministry of the Environment figures as quoted there
26 coincide with what you understand the situation to be?
27 A. Provided you include the proportion of the 1,029 which
28 are in need of monitoring, which does not actually reflect
29 extinction or near extinction, yes.
30
31 Q. But there are concerns over them, yes?
32 A. There is concern and so there should be; this is an
33 issue that the forest industry have been addressing not
34 only since 1992 but before those dates.
35
36 Q. Is this the sort of problem, the threats to species, which
37 the forestry industry has now taken into consideration in
38 terms of improving its practices? Is this one of the areas
39 that they want to improve upon?
40 A. Yes, in response to that, as you will note, the
41 original Conservation Committee's Report was 1986, as
42 stated in the document you just presented to me, and the
43 analysis of this has led to action within the forest. You
44 will appreciate that your document states that 43 per cent
45 out of a total of 1,692 threatened species are occurring in
46 woodlands, that is 727 of them are occurring in woodlands,
47 and that includes a high proportion of those that are in
48 need of monitoring.
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It does not say what percentage of those who
51 are actually endangered are in the forest?
52 A. It does not identify that in that report, but analysis
53 done by the Finnish industry concerns itself with all these
54 levels of endangerment.
55
56 MR. MORRIS: Just the last thing on this document: I should
57 have maybe read out the sentence just before on the fourth
58 paragraph: "Regardless of the increase in number of
59 threatened species, the reasons for habitats and
60 populations being threatened are nearly the same as
