Day 073 - 13 Jan 95 - Page 10
1 relates to McDonald's. Just a couple of examples: There
2 is a reference to McDonald's in 2.11.5 and 2.11.7 and then
3 a conclusion in relation to McDonald's at 2.11.8. Then --
4 these are just examples only -- there is a conclusion
5 relating to McDonald's at 3.5.4. There are others as well,
6 but it is where I am asked to relate what Mr. Hopkins has
7 said to McDonald's that the focus should become sharpest.
8
9 MR. MORRIS: Right. If I miss something out, could you -----
10
11 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If I notice it, yes.
12
13 MR. MORRIS: First of all, just on the general situation on
14 temperate and boreal forests, which I believe is what we
15 are concerned with, although McDonald's is a worldwide
16 corporation, we are looking at forests, the countries which
17 they have identified in northern Europe and the USA, Canada
18 -- well, Europe in general, I think. What is your general
19 conclusion on the position of temperate and boreal forests
20 in Europe and America, Canada?
21 A. In regard to their environmental qualities, I assume?
22
23 Q. Yes. What has been happening and what is likely to happen?
24 A. OK. Things happen differently in different regions.
25 I will start with Scandinavia, well, specifically Finland
26 and Norway, which are the two major producers -- sorry,
27 Finland and Sweden, which are the two major producers.
28 Basically what has happened in those countries -----
29
30 Q. Be very general at the moment.
31 A. OK. Basically what has happened in those countries is
32 that over the last 40, 50, 60 years there has been a change
33 from a gently managed or traditional or an ancient forest
34 to an industrial plantation forestry. In North America the
35 situation is slightly different where most -- that is
36 Canada and the US -- where, over the last sort of 50 or so
37 years, most logging or a lot of the logging has been in
38 virgin forest, old growth forest, and this has been fairly
39 destructive of the environment. The old growth forest has
40 been replaced by plantations which are of species, often
41 monospecies, which are commercially of interest to the
42 timber industry or to government authorities who are
43 running the land when land belongs to the government.
44
45 Q. Outside of Scandinavia and Americas, North America, Canada,
46 what about, say, for example, the UK, the general position
47 over the last 40, 50 years?
48 A. The general position over the last 40, 50 years has
49 changed. Due to timber shortages in Britain during the
50 First World War, the government set up the Forestry
51 Commission -- I think it was then -- and decided they
52 needed a strategic reserve of timber for wartime. What has
53 happened in forests -- I think we will call these "forests"
54 -- in the United Kingdom is, in fact, there has been
55 virtually a doubling of the area of forest, commercial
56 forest, industrial forest, in the United Kingdom between
57 about 1919 and now.
58
59 More recently, since 1947, when a new grant regime came in,
60 there has been a lot of conversion of what we call ancient
