The environmental target for Sweden’s forests will not be reached with today’s measures. This was shown by a comprehensive evaluation that the Norwegian Forestry Agency has carried out. Source: Timberbiz
At the same time, new proposals are being presented to reverse the trend, for example a completely new business model where it will be profitable for a forest owner using biological diversity.
A lot is being done for the environment, which has positive effects in the forest, and without that the result would have been even worse. But it is worrying and serious that there are major problems in several environmental areas in the forest. There we now hope that the action proposals we put forward will also be implemented, says the Norwegian Forestry Agency’s director general, Herman Sundqvist.
In the in-depth evaluation of the environmental quality objective Living forests, which the Norwegian Forestry Agency does every four years on behalf of the government, it was established that the environmental objective has not been achieved and that the development in the environment is negative. Several habitats and endangered species are declining at the same time as cultural remains and waterways are being destroyed or negatively affected.
“We are currently losing natural values that cannot be recreated in the foreseeable future. Therefore, the powerful measures that we are now putting forward are needed and quickly,” said Camilla Andersson, environmental strategist at the Norwegian Forestry Agency and one of the authors of the report.
With the instruments and measures that are in place today, the environmental goal will not be reached by 2030, states the report. One explanation is that there are strong economic driving forces that steer towards production-oriented forestry, but weak or non-existent economic driving forces to steer towards other societal values.
A completely new proposal from the Norwegian Forestry Agency is about increasing the landowner’s freedom of choice through a new business model where it should be economically profitable to preserve and develop biological diversity.
The Norwegian Forestry Agency proposes a series of measures that must be put in place to reverse the trend, for example:
Biodiversity: The government needs to give the Swedish Forestry Agency and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency a task to investigate and propose financial instruments and measures with the aim of making forests with high natural values as natural a part of the market economy as forest products.
Political governance: The Norwegian Forestry Agency must investigate the possibility of making a statement to the government about a clarification of today’s contradictory signals about how forests with high natural values should be managed. For example, forests with high natural values should not be felled. At the same time, the forest owner’s voluntariness must form the basis and ownership rights should be strengthened. The money to form area protection is also insufficient.
Funding: The government should set aside money so that the Norwegian Forestry Agency and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency can intensify the work of developing a knowledge base on where there is a high probability of high natural values in the forest. It can support the landowner in an early decision and planning stage.
The report with the in-depth evaluation was sent to the Environmental Protection Agency and is one of the documents for the combined final report that the Environmental Protection Agency will report to the government in January 2023.
