News

Negotiations between Greenpeace Canada and newsprint manufacturer AbitibiBowater have broken down over allegations of irresponsible logging practices.

Greenpeace has accused the company of destroying the Boreal forest in Quebec and Ontario, according to reports in the Canadian press.

The Boreal forest lies to the south of the Arctic tree line and is home to a number of protected species.

Greenpeace has called on AbitibiBowater to stop logging intact forests and make its operations greener in order to meet the sustainable forestry certification programmes run by the FSC.

However, AbitibiBowater said accepting Greenpeace's demand would have forced it to shut down several operations in Quebec and Ontario, putting many staff out of work.

In a statement issued on 4 September, AbitibiBowater said it was disappointed by Greenpeace Canada's decision to pull out of formal discussions towards building a collaborative process.

The discussions broke off over an impasse regarding specific harvesting areas in which Greenpeace demanded that it stop its forestry operations. The areas identified are publicly owned and regulated woodlands.

AbitibiBowater president and chief executive David Paterson said the company is working hard to live up to its environmental promise to do more.

"To date, we have achieved independent sustainable forestry certification for 95% of our managed woodlands – approximately 46m acres – more than any other company in the world.

"While Greenpeace's decision to end talks is unfortunate, AbitibiBowater's work continues. My door remains open to solutions."

The company said it has already postponed harvesting in large areas of forest for numerous environmental and social reasons.