More than half of Sweden is covered by forests. Forestry policies and methods have resulted in the conversion of the forest landscape into industrial forests that lack key features of natural forests. More than 90 per cent of Swedish forests are, or have been, in commercial use and are affected by systematic forest management. Old, natural forests are and have been clear-cut and replaced by plantations and industrial forests that have low biodiversity values.

In Norway the forests have been intensely harvested for hundreds of years, and virgin forests are almost completely gone, while some regions still holds larger tracts of rather old forests that have been subjected only to selective loggings in the past. More than 50% of the forest is under 60 years of age, and it has been estimated that no more than 10% can be classified as near-natural.