A rare finding of fertile Lobaria Pulmonaria found at Lill-Gravberget, one of the forests in the report. Photo: John Lööf Green

The Swedish forestry model has been claimed across Europe as an example of a sustainable way to cultivate forests; in particular through the certification system FSC. In reality though, the Swedish forestry has caused a devastating impact on forest diversity since the 1950´s when the clear cutting period started.

Today, more than 2000 forest dwelling species are endangered, vulnerable or threatened, mainly due to the modern forestry methods. Between 2007 and 2009, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) has conducted field documentation of close to 500 threatened and unprotected old-growth boreal forests with high conservation values owned by large forestry companies as well as smallholders.

Lill-gravberget after the felling. Photo: Hans Sundström

“The natural forests of Sweden are about to disappear. It is time that consumers and procurers all over Europe become aware that present forestry methods biodiversity in unique ecosystems in Sweden,” says Mikael Karlsson, President of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, the largest environmental organization in Sweden.

The largest forest companies in Sweden are FSC-certified. Numerous field studies carried out by SSNC during the past three years show that a remarkable number of logged areas do not live up to the FSC-standard´s key criteria. However, these violations of the FSC-regulations have not altered the companies’ possibilities to continue with using the FSC label. In as much as one third of the cases, forestry logging is also violating Swedish laws on nature protection, according to the Swedish Forestry Agency.

The SSNC has now released the report “Cutting the Edge – the Loss of Natural Forests in Sweden” in order to make buyers, traders and consumers in Europe aware of the downside of the Swedish forestry model.

“A new Swedish forestry model is needed, with regulations that safeguard the biodiversity and the forest ecosystems in Sweden. In a short-term perspective, new and strict sanctions are needed to force the forestry industry to follow present legislation. In addition, a new environmental law is needed, with the aim to protect the nature values in Swedish forests,” says Mikael Karlsson.

During SSNC´s field studies, hundreds of old-growth forests with high conservation values and woodland key habitats have been found slated for logging or logged. The forest companies have been contacted, but follow-up reviews shows that very little has changed in the companies’ procedures.

Download and read the report

See some images from the visited Swedish forests

See and download more pictures here

http://picasaweb.google.com/swedishforests2009
http://picasaweb.google.com/swedishforests
http://picasaweb.google.com/swedishforests2
http://picasaweb.google.com/swedishforests3
http://picasaweb.google.com/swedishforests4

See some pictures from clear-cuts

See and download more pictures here

http://picasaweb.google.com/destroyedforests

By SCA logged pristine forest. Photo: Hans Sundström

Even though the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has revealed several major offenses against the swedish FSC-standard in the forestry praticed by SCA the company is now only given som minor Corrective Action requirements by the certifying body SGS.

– It’s astonnishing how cheap SCA gets away with this – the company have clearly broken the rules of the FSC-certification. Persistent serious offences of the rules like the logging of key habitats must have a consequense fot the forestry companies – otherwise FSC is not working the way its supposed to, says Mikael Karlsson, chairman of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.

The forestry company SCA, which is one of the biggest forestry companies in the world, has gotten lots of critique lately for its forestry practices. The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation found this summer a large number of offences to the forest-certification FSC on several clear-cuts in Sweden. Five formal complaints has been made to the certifying body who has approved the FSC-certificate of SCA.

The reports concerns logged High Conservation Value forests in Västernorrland and Jämtland in mid-Sweden. The company has clear-cut among other things pristine like forest and key habitats. In the reports a large number of other concerns has been documented such as logged trees with high conservation values, poor respect for dead wood and red-listed species.

– The rules of the FSC-certification doesn’t work satisfactory when it comes to grave infringements. The certifier agrees that the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has made a correct assessment but the consequences for SCA are insignificant. This means that the certifying body SGS are legitimizing the logging of nature that should be protected, concludes chairman Mikael Karlsson.

Some of the endangered forests around Stor Flaten and Stora Snesen in Leksand, Dalecarlia, Sweden

.

.

.

.

.

.
After a field-study in Dalecarlia the summer of 2008 the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation gave attention to the High Conservation Value Forests around the lakes of Stor-Flaten and Stora Snesen in the municipality of Leksand. More than 130 findings of 16 different red-listed species were made in the critically endangered forests. All areas that were visited had Old-Growth Forest structures and the biological diversity was well preserved. These forests are interesting from a nature conservation perspective as they together constitute a big coherent High Conservation Value Forest area. With that knowledge Bergvik Skog, part of Stora Enso, has logged areas around lake Flaten.

A logged forest by lake Stor-Flaten Photo: John Green

– This is a catastrophe as larger well preserved natural pine forests with high conservation values are rare because of modern forestry. Bergvik Skog has planned to log almost all High Conservation Value Forests in this area. As there is a lack of funds to protect the area for the state the land-owner Bergvik Skog should protect these forests on a voluntarily basis, says Mikael Karlsson, Chairman of the SSNC.

Flaten-Snesen

The lakes of Stor-Flaten and Stora Snesen are visible in the map. Roughly one can interpret the image in the following way: large continuos areas of darker green are old forest. Light green areas are plantations and the light grey-brown-purple colour represents clear-cut areas.

Åsa Rydell, ecological officer at the municipality of Leksand has since a couple years reacted on the fact that Bergvik Skog is notifying High Conservation Value Forests for logging to the Swedish Forest Agency. In a statement on the website of the Forest Network of the SSNC she says that such a fine area as the forests around Flaten should not be logged. Especially as the land-owner Bergvik Skog is certified according to the FSC-standard. Bergvik Skog should know better.

Despite the obvious high conservation values Stora Enso is still planning to clearcut the forests. The county board has not enough money to buy it for protection and Stora Enso refuses to make voluntary protection decisions. The lack of resources for nature protection and cynical attitude in the forest companies makes this case very typical in Sweden today. Nobody seems to be responsible and as a result old-growth forests are destroyed all the time.

These High Conservation Value Forest are not only biologically valuable but it’s also an area for outdoor life and recreation. This mosaic of old forest, mires and lakes makes the area a unique place for wilderness area experience that both the local population and tourists have been enjoying.

2008 was the year when SCA, after many years of criticism from the NGOs in Sweden, was close to loose its FSC-certificate. The company received in the last revision (2007-11-02) a major CAR, the most serious Corrective Action Request a company can get before the FSC-certificate is suspended. The reason for this was SCA’s logging of High Conservation Value Forests and serious lack of consideration for biological values in the clear-cut landscape.

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has with a great interest been following SCA’s attempts to improve the sustainability of their forestry. Members of the SSNC has also made field inventories in forests that have been logged or notified for logging. There is proof in the inventories that has been made in the counties of Västernorrland, Västerbotten and Norrbotten that the company still can’t reach the demands that the certifier made in its report of 2007.

With 2.6 million hectares, SCA is Europe’s largest private forest owner. SCA sells personal care products, tissue, packaging, publication papers and solid-wood products in more than 90 countries. SCA has 52,000 employees in some 60 countries and annual sales in 2008 amounted to EUR 11.5bn (11.4). The biggest owner is Industrivärden which is controlled by Lundberföretagen which is controlled by Fredrik Lundberg who has a 67% stake in the company.

List of SCA-brands

(This is a rewrite from the SSNC-report ”Breakdown for the nature conservation in the forest (of Sweden)”)

A gallery of recent High Conservation Value Forests that have been logged by SCA (subtitles in swedish):

– international wood and paper customers deceived

New organization confronts old-growth forest destruction

Sweden, which will take over the EU Presidency in July 2009, has a considerable proportion of Europe’s remaining old-growth forests. However, many of these forests are being ravaged. The Swedish government has reduced its budget for forest protection and proposes to increase forest production. At the same time, forest companies such as SCA and Stora Enso, log unprotected old-growth forests under the cover of environmental certification FSC1. Customer countries buying Swedish wood and paper products are being deceived.

Because of the critical situation, a new Swedish forest conservation organization, Protect the Forest, has recently been established to reverse the situation and to push the alarm button.

“We urge everyone concerned and customers in countries that import forest products from Sweden to put pressure on the Swedish government and forestry sector,” says Viktor Säfve, chairperson of Protect the Forest. “We immediately need to stop the destruction of Europe’s last old-growth forests and to do this we need to cooperate internationally.”
Forestry has transformed most of Sweden’s forests into plantations and young forests. More than 1,800 animal and plant species are endangered or near-threatened. Only around 1.5 per cent of Swedish productive forests, below the mountain region, are formally protected from logging. There is consensus among Sweden’s leading scientists that the current Swedish forestry policy is a serious threat to biological diversity.2

“Sweden is committed to international conventions to safeguard its biological diversity,” says Amanda Tas, secretary of Protect the Forest. “Yet, the government ignores scientific facts and turns a blind eye to the devastation of forests with a high conservation value.”
A large proportion of all wood logged in Sweden is exported as raw material, paper, pulp and other products to countries such as the UK, Germany and USA.3 Customers in these countries are given false guarantees by the Forest Stewardship Council, FSC, and the Swedish forest industry that these products are produced in a sustainable way.

For more information, please contact:

Amanda Tas, Secretary of Protect the Forest,

+46 76 76 13 533, Amanda.tas@skyddaskogen.se

Viktor Säfve, Chairperson of Protect the Forest,

viktor.safve@skyddaskogen.se

Notes

1. The Forest Stewardship Council, FSC, is an international organization that certifies forestry and wood products, such as paper and furniture. The FSC label should guarantee that the forest companies’ timber and other products derive from forestry of high environmental standards. For more information, read the Greenpeace report “Under the Cover of Forest Certification”:

http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/sweden/rapporter-och-dokument/under-the-cover-of-forest-cert.pdf

2. Debate article “Forest policy threatens biological diversity” in Swedish tabloid (Dagens Nyheter, 2008) written by 14 leading nature conservation scientists:
http://protecttheforest.se/en/skogen-i-media/40-vad-saeger-forskarna/432-dn-skogspolitiken-hotar-biologiska-mangfalden (free translation of the debate article)

3. Examples of Swedish FSC-certified forest companies:
SCA is a global company that produces personal care products (TENA, Libero, Libresse, Nana), tissue (Tork, Tempo, Zewa, Edet), packaging and solid wood products in more than 90 countries. SCA’s eight largest markets are (in order): Germany, UK, France, USA, Sweden, Italy, Netherlands and Spain. In Sweden, SCA is notorious for its systematic loggings of high conservation value forests.

Stora Enso is one of the world’s biggest producer of paper and cardboard. Its products are mainly produced in Europe (including Russia), China and Latin America. Stora Enso has monoculture plantations in Brasil and China, which have caused environmental problems and conflicts between social groups and the company. Example of important consumer brands are MultiCopy (office paper) and Effex (wood paneling). In Sweden, Stora Enso logs old-growth forests and has ended up in social conflicts when logging forests that are socially valuable for the local population.

Bergvik is Sweden’s second-largest forest owner in terms of annual felling volume. In 2004 Bergvik acquired all of Stora Enso’s former holdings in Sweden. Bergvik manages forests and sell felling rights to Stora Enso.

Norrmyrberget, Jokkmokk, Norrbotten County. Old-growth forest logged by SCA in 2008. Photo: Olli Manninen

Finnish forest industry has actively sought to produce FSC controlled wood since 2006. Lack of transparency in their risk assessment and subsequent audits has made it very difficult for the civil society to gain access to the process. Some certifying bodies have carried out their audits without any consultation with environmental NGOs or indigenous organisations. Some have been more transparent but have failed to take into account information on controversial operations. 

The Greenpeace-report “Out of Control” compiles 40 cases of controversial logging operations from the last two years, all of which have links to Finnish companies seeking to produce controlled wood or already doing so. The aim of the report is to identify some of the most important challenges concerning the FSC Controlled Wood system. The authors hope this example and the recommendations presented in the report could be used to improve the system in order to maintain FSC’s credibility as a proof of sustainable forest management. Considering the threat posed to biodiversity by the current Finnish forest management model and the country’s long history of unresolved conflicts between indigenous communities and forestry, Finland clearly should not be treated as a “low risk” country. This is the case especially for FSC Controlled Wood categories 2 and 3 on preservation of high conservation values and respect for indigenous and traditional rights. Yet, certifying bodies have adopted the industry’s policy of turning a blind eye on the confl icts and accepted the risk assessments of the forest industry, claiming no problems exist. The Finnish case shows that the FSC Controlled Wood system is currently not strong enough to eff ectively eliminate controversial sources. While some of the reasons arise from problems in the performance of certifying bodies, the situation is exacerbated by the standard which allows for a variety of interpretations on some key issues.

Read more in the Greenpeace report “Out of Control”.

From the report: 'Clear-cut in Ilosenkangas, eastern Finland. The forest had been identified as an intact old-growth forest with significant high conservation values.

Read the report

”Finland’s forests are among the most intensively managed in the world. Over 50 million cubic metres of wood are harvested every year from the country’s 20 million hectares of commercial forests. The Finnish forest management model has resulted in the rapid conversion of natural forests into monotonous industrial forests that lack many key features of boreal forest ecosystems. Forestry is the most serious threat to species survival in Finland. Unless there is a  significant increase in the amount of protected forest area and a parallel improvement in the standards of forest management, hundreds of species face extinction within  the next 50 years. 

Sustainable development and protection of biodiversity are now popular phrases in the public communications of the Finnish forestry sector. But there remains a huge gap between rhetoric and reality. Forest certification could be an effective way to improve the ecological and social sustainability of forest use. However, 95% of Finland’s forests have been certified according to the inadequate Finnish Forest Certification System standard,  with the result that there has been little change to the destructive practices that have caused the current degradation of forest biodiversity. 

With this report, the undersigned Finnish environmental organisations want to emphasise the urgent need for better forest management and better protection for  the remaining old-growth and high-conservation-value forests in Finland.”

From the foreword to the report