Mopria Workflow Survey: Paper is Still Important in Office Workflows (twosidesna.org)

Nearly 10,000 hectares of privately held Acadian forest, coastline and dunes in New Brunswick will be recognized as another effective area-based conservation measure (OECM), thanks to the visionary leadership of J.D. Irving, Limited (JDI). The initiative was shared during an event hosted by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) where global experts profiled emerging conservation solutions, presenting leadership and investment opportunities to accelerate the nature agenda. This announcement by JDI is a concrete example of a whole-of-society approach to accelerating conservation. The lands held by Saint John-based JDI boast a variety of ecosystems, which provide habitat for animals like pine marten and endangered piping plover.

On August 16, OPI published on its opinion page a piece titled “The Sustainable Argument for Going Paperless” in which an executive from DocuWare, a document management and workflow software company, asserted with no factual evidence that electronic communication and document management are more environmentally sustainable than using paper. Among other claims, he wrote: “Reducing paper usage offers significant environmental benefits, such as leaving a lighter environmental footprint by conserving forests. Forest loss harms wildlife and increases soil erosion. Meanwhile, paper production, which also relies on chemicals and water – emits greenhouse gas emissions.” Is going digital really more environmentally sustainable than using paper? Your readers were recently warned (“The sustainable argument for going paperless,” August 16, Benedikt Dischinger) that there is a “Code Red for Humanity” caused by human-caused climate change, and that one response to this legitimate threat to the future of humankind is…use less paper. What Mr. Dischinger wants us to believe is that we should toss overboard the only form of communication rooted in a truly circular paper industry that relies on biobased energy, an infinitely renewable resource and some of the highest recycling rates in favor of more electronic communication, which is rooted in an industry that scours the planet for finite rare earths and other diminishing resources, relies almost exclusively on fossil fuels to meet its increasingly greedy demands for energy, and features embarrassing recycling rates.

UPM has set a target to increase the amount of deadwood in its commercial forests from the current level of about five cubic metres per hectare to ten cubic metres per hectare. In UPM's protected areas and commercial forests where a specific nature management target has been set, the deadwood target is 20 cubic metres per hectare. The new targets are part of UPM Forest Action, the UPM Forest Responsibility programme. In 2018, UPM set itself the target of increasing biodiversity in its forests in Finland while efficiently producing high-quality wood raw material. Biodiversity is measured by comparing natural forests with commercial forests. Studies have shown that one clear difference between these two types of forests is the amount of deadwood. UPM's success in increasing biodiversity is measured not only by the amount of deadwood, but also by other indicators such as the amount of broadleaved trees and the number of protected areas.