In 2023, the Norwegian Forestry Agency paid out almost SEK 309 million (around $44M) in compensation to landowners who were denied felling in areas close to mountains due to high natural values. This is an increase of 25% compared with the previous year. At the same time, the area for which formal protection was established was the lowest since 1998. Source: Timberbiz
Since 2020, the Norwegian Forestry Agency has paid trespass compensation to landowners who have been denied permission to fell in areas close to mountains, this after a trial in court gave the landowners the right to do so.
In 2020, only individual trespass compensations were paid out as a result of denied permission to fell, but in the following years the amount of payments increased sharply due to the increase in felling applications that were then sent to the Forestry Agency.
In 2021, 72 million kroner (around $10M) was paid out in trespass compensation, in 2022 it was 248 million kroner (around $54M), and most recently in 2023, 309 million kroner was paid to the landowners who were denied felling. The number of compensation cases has increased from 110 in 2022 to 188 cases in 2023.
In total, trespass compensation has been paid out as a result of denied permission to harvest 16,700 hectares of forest land in the region near the mountains in the years 2020 to 2023. The biggest increase was between 2021 and 2022 when the area that was trespassed increased by almost 300%.
The largest part of the area that received trespass compensation in the mountains until 2023 is in Västerbotten (62%) and Jämtland counties (36%). The remaining 2% is distributed between the counties of Dalarna and Norrbotten.
In 2023, 810 hectares of biotope protection and 210 hectares of nature conservation agreements were added. Overall, this was the lowest level of new formation of the Norwegian Forestry Agency’s formal protection since 1998.
It is also the fifth year in a row where less than 1,500 hectares have been formally protected. The years with the greatest new formation were during 2002 to 2005 when approximately 6,000 hectares per year became formally protected.
“Those who have been refused permission to harvest have the right to compensation and we work there as quickly as we can to handle the cases. If more funds are needed to compensate forest owners for denied felling near the mountains, we will request more money for that in good time,” says Johan Åberg, specialist in area protection at the Norwegian Forestry Agency.
