Day 058 - 30 Nov 94 - Page 31
1 for example, France, Germany and Italy, the practice is not
2 to cut the trees at such a young age as is practised, say,
3 in the UK?
4 A. I think it would be fair to say that European forestry
5 is a very mature industry as such, and that forestry
6 practices there have gone on for hundreds of years and with
7 very careful caring for the forest so that it has many
8 purposes and not just that of thinning for pulp or sawmill
9 product. You find some very fine forests throughout
10 Europe.
11
12 In our country we had depleted our forests so much that it
13 was after the First World War that any conscious effort was
14 made to replant. As has been stated in my submission, we
15 had only five per cent of our land area covered with
16 forest. We now have 10 per cent. Our problems, therefore,
17 of restructuring as a consequence of a highly concentrated
18 growth of forest area are really quite different from those
19 in Europe.
20
21 Q. So, the generation period, say, for France, Germany and
22 Italy, for example, would tend to be older than for the UK?
23 A. I think there are many more forests of that maturity
24 there than we find here, bearing in mind that the average
25 cover of the land area of Europe is 25 per cent forested to
26 our 10 per cent forested and there really is a
27 substantially bigger forest resource.
28
29 Q. So do you happen to know what the percentage of -- it is a
30 very difficult question; you probably do not know -- when
31 it comes to the sources of McDonald's packaging, Finland
32 has been flagged up, I think, as the main supplier. Do you
33 happen to know the percentage equivalents for different
34 countries -- I am sure you do not know actually.
35 A. No, Mr. Morris, I do not. I can tell you that Finland
36 exports 95 per cent of its forest product as far as the
37 pulp industry is concerned and retains five per cent of it,
38 so they are very much a major player in the supply line
39 into Europe for all packaging and other paper -----
40
41 Q. You do not know what percentage their timber would be to
42 McDonald's packaging for Europe? Were you told?
43 A. No, I could not tell you off the -----
44
45 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is really not your field.
46 A. No, it is not my field to know. I am afraid if I gave
47 you any answer, it would be pure guesswork.
48
49 MR. MORRIS: OK. We are on page 13. You have made a lot of
50 comments through your statement about, for example in the
51 third paragraph, most valued components of an ecosystem,
52 and you talk about red squirrels in mature coniferous
53 forests, but would you recognise that the ecologists'
54 position is that all life is of equal value, whether it is
55 a subsoil fungi, a red squirrel or an Aspen tree, would you
56 recognise that that is the ecological position?
57 A. Yes, I think I see what you mean in that context, but
58 the only point I would make is that the natural
59 biodiversity of one area will be quite different to the
60 natural biodiversity of another. The constant change that
