The raw material for newsprint used in Finland comes from coniferous forests in the North. Newsprint is generally made from spruce. While Finnish forests are growing, tropical forests are shrinking in many parts of the world. The most common reasons for the loss of rainforests are agriculture and the need for energy for domestic consumption. Nearly half of all wood cut globally is used for these purposes. Rainforests may feature on the pages of Alma Media's publications as a story, but never as a raw material.
 
Read more about the process of producing newsprint from the Finnish Forest Association's "The many opportunities of wood" information package and the status of the world's rainforests on the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations' forest website.
 
Domestic wood species play a key role in promoting biodiversity. Some 90% of the total Finnish forest area is commercial forest. This means that commercial forests are home to the majority of the species and populations that live in Finnish forests, making the management of commercial forests crucial for biodiversity. Commercial forests in Finland have been surveyed to determine the locations of particularly valuable natural habitats, which are then exempted from cutting and processing. Areas used for logging are also carefully managed, with retention trees and deciduous trees left standing and parts of the forest burnt over to preserve and promote the typical structures of natural forests.
 
The forestry industry has made significant investments in protecting the diversity of commercial forests by providing training to their personnel and forest machine contractors on environmental matters and by funding research on forest biodiversity. Finland has the highest percentage of strictly conserved forests in Europe (9% of total forest area). In addition to the ecosystem management of commercial forests, the conservation of Finland's forests is best achieved through voluntary conservation practices. They are also often the fastest solutions to adopt. The voluntary basis is also important due to the fact that some 70% of the forests in southern Finland are privately owned.
 
The year 2011 is the United Nations International Year of Forests and forests and biodiversity are also the theme of the WWF's 50^th anniversary.
For more on forest management and biodiversity, please refer to the Ministry of the Environment's Biodiversity in Finnish Forests brochure and the Forest Industries Knowledge Services.