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
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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.

Environment in the forest at Jos-Olatjärn Photo: Olli Manninen

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has made 78 findings of seven different red-listed species in the forest at Jos-Olatjärn, Malung, Dalarna. According to Bergvik Skog, whoch is owned to a majority by Stora Enso, that is not enough to save the forest from being logged. One of the found red-listed species is Oligoporus lateritius which is considered Vulnurable in Sweden.

Oligoporus lateritius in Jos-Olatjärn Photo: Olli Manninen

Old-growth pine-forest in Ormtjärnen. Photo: Olli Manninen

Stora Enso is planning to log Ormtjärnen in Ovanåker municipality, Gävleborg, Sweden. Even though the forest consists of old-growth pine-forest. According to the field inventory that the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has made these kind of forests have high conservation values in the region. Even though there are some traces of old selective logging the old-growth structures persist and the biological diversity is high. The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has made 35 findings of seven red-listed species in the area. One of them is Sceletocutis lenis which is considered vulnerable to extinction in Sweden.

Natural pine-forest at Vallsjön. Photo: Olli Manninen

A natural pine-forest that Bergvik Skog, which is owned to a majority by Stora Enso, has notified for logging. The older part of the forest indicates such High Conservation Values that it shouldn’t be logged according to the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.
42 findings of six red-listed species has been made. One of them was Antrodia albobrunnea which is considered vulnerable to extinction by swedish biological expertise.

Antrodia albobrunnea in the forest at southern Vallsjön

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

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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):

Småhöjderna, Krokom Photo: Olli Manninen

All around the mighty Hotagen nature reserve in Northern Jämtland, unprotected old-growth forests are directly bordering the reserve. These old-growth forests are still being fragmented. The timber market situation in Sweden is, at the moment, putting a large pressure on these forests.

There are hundreds of hectares of forests planned to be logged in the surroundings of Hotagen. A few of the plans have been withdrawn, at least for the time being, because of protests from NGOs. But many of the plans are still valid.

Blankvattnet, Krokom Photo: Sini Saarela

In particular, the forest company SCA has planned and lately done many old-growth forest loggings around Hotagen. SCA is notorious for its poor environmental standards and its hostile attitude towards nature conservation. Other forest owners include forest company Korsnäs, National Property Board (Fastighetsverket) and some smaler forest owners. The surroundings of Hotagen and the bordering Lierne National Park in Norway make by far the biggest intact forest landscape in the whole Central and Southern Scandinavia.

A logging in Stor-Foskvattnet in Krokom. Photo: Olli Manninen

The protection and logging situation is very similar on the Norwegian side of the border. There are many unprotected forests close to Lierne National Park. The National Park mainly consists of very low productive scrubland and bare mountain land. In Norway, the forests are mainly privately owned. The Norwegian State owns about 7 percent of the productive forest land.

Map of forests in and around the Hotagen-Lierne Intact Forest Landscape. Download the NordicForests.org Map for Google Earth here .

Greenpeace Sweden and SSNC visited the planned logging sites during 2008 and revealed logging plans in very high conservation value forest areas. Some of them were virgin ancient forests.

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The pictures in the photo galleries can be downloaded at:

• Rusvattenån, Strömsund, SCA
• Ytter-Renaflyn, Strömsund, SCA
• Linjeviken, Strömsund, SCA
• Hällingsåfallet, Strömsund, SCA
• Småhöjderna, Krokom
• Finnvattshöjderna, Strömsund, SCA
• Stor-Foskvattnet, Krokom
• Blankvattnet, Krokom

Hotagen-Lierne is included in the World Intact Forest Landscapes –report. Also this magnificent area is scandalously losing its natural values for good as the fragmentation continues. see more at: IntactForests.org

Ytter-Renaflyn, Strömsund, SCA Photo: Olli Manninen

Destructed Old-Growth forest in Åbojen, Jokkmokk. Photo: Daniel Rutschman

Swedish Society for Nature Conservation reports about a breakdown in the forest protection of Sweden. Large and very valuable areas with forests in Sweden are totally unprotected and many are critically endangered by logging.

Read the report here

This is the result of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation’s big forest inventory 2008. 150 forests with threatened species were found and almost 6000 discoveries of red-listed species were made by the SSNC.

Some of the forests have already been logged and several are notified for logging to the Swedish Forest Agency. This is proof that the work on nature conservation within the big forest companies of Sweden has failed. Forest companies SCA, Bergvik, Sveaskog and the National Property Board of Sweden all have forests that should be protected for the future immediately as they contain lots of red-listed species. It’s also clear that the reduced government funding for nature conservation isn’t enough.

Mikael Karlsson, chairman of the SSNC, said “We are facing a breakdown for nature conservation in our Swedish forests in the year that nature conservation celebrates a century in Sweden. The funds for the protection of forests have run out at the county boards. This is a threat to all High Conservation Value Forests in Sweden in the future. The government funding must increase in Sweden.”

The material which members of the SSNC have gathered on a voluntary basis in Dalecarlia, Jämtland, Västernorrland, Västerbotten and Norrbotten is now stored as red-listed species lists, images and GPS-coordinates. The information also exists in The Swedish Species Information Centre’s web-service the Species Gateway (Artportalen.se) where it is accessible for the general public.

A report that was published by the SSNC earlier this year describes in detail 18 unprotected High Conservation Value Forests of which many are going to be logged.

Mikael Karlsson said “This is a warning signal that the SSNC gives the Swedish government and authorites for free. I assume that they will act now and that the forest industry will change their minds immediately and stop the logging of these valuable forests. There are obvious problems in the nature conservation practices of the industry which should prevent High Conservation Value Forests being logged. Today a mere 1.5% of the forests in Sweden are formally protected below the sub-alpine zone.”

The report also concludes that large-scale state inventories has been made and they show large areas of High Conservation Value Forests which are not protected yet. This information should be used and put into practice as soon as possible. There’s also a need to fund more inventories in poorly mapped out regions of Sweden.

Mikael Karlsson said, “When it comes to state-owned land we think that the Government should take advantage of the occasion and protect the High Conservation Value Forests of the National Property Board of Sweden without giving them any compensation. When the reduced funding for nature conservation is used to protect state-owned forests the funds are just roaming around within the administration of the state. It would be better to use these finite funds to compensate private land-owners who make good efforts to increase the biological values of the forest.”