Harvest. Replant. Repeat.

Visit Swedish Wood at the Venice Biennale May-September 2018

We have a vision in which the Swedish forestry sector drives the growth of the global bioeconomy. From sapling to innovation, through cultivation and creation.

Forestry the Nordic way is to replant. We do it as we harvest. We do it time and again. That’s how the volume of our forest doubled in the past century.

The film: HARVEST. REPLANT. REPEAT. is part of the Swedish Exhibition in Venice at Serra dei Giardini.

Renewable. Responsible.

Two saplings or more are replanted for every tree we harvest. This is the heart and core of a forest-based bioeconomy. The trees we harvest today started to grow around the Second World War. Replantation of forest has been Swedish law since 1903.

More than 250 million seedlings are planted every year. As a result, the forest's volume is twice the size it was one hundred years ago. So we plant the seed and the sapling. Again and again. Science-based and sustainable. Knowledgeable, renewable and responsible. That's how we drive growth.

Regrow. Reinvest.

You reap what you sow, the saying goes. The patient gardener replants and regrows, making sure the plants are strong and grow tall. That's the essence of forestry. We know we can't choose between the environment and the economy. There is no economy on a dead planet.

The Swedish Forestry Act sets the objectives equally for the environment and production. We call it bioeconomy: when the raw materials are renewable and production is based on sustainability and perseverance.

But there's more to it. We need the forest. We love the forest. The forest is everywhere – we live near it and from it. Some of us even live in it and for it. That's why we plant so many trees. Millions and millions. Every year.

Realize. Refine. 

We can use a tree to create almost anything. As a forest kingdom, we have come to realize that with knowledge and care, with science and curiosity, we can use the timber, the pellets, the pulp, the fibers and the microscopic nanocellulose for almost anything.

Refined wood is used to build homes and bridges and to satisfy the needs of growing societies. With the residues, we make paper and packaging, clothes, cosmetics, medicine and bio energy. To name a few.

Every fiber of the tree is used, and nothing goes to waste. Residues become resources through economic and wise refinement. A circular movement and progress continues. We are committed to replanting every spruce and pine as we prioritize devotedly and further refine. From sapling to innovation, through cultivation and creation.

Respect. Restore. 

Seventy percent of Sweden's land area is covered by forest. That's more hectares than the whole of Great Britain. The forest consists of more than 60 billion trees. Or 7,000 trees for every Swede. Of the 28 million hectares of woodland, around 25 percent are exempted from forestry, voluntarily by the owner or by law.

We have numerous national parks, thousands of nature reserves, biotope protection areas and conservation agreements. More than 330,000 private forest owners act with great care, in accordance with long standing traditions and respectful forestry laws. All over the kingdom.

Did you know that only growing trees bind carbon dioxide? But once bound, the wood stores the carbon dioxide over its entire life cycle. The more we harvest, use and replant the forest, the more good it does for the climate. And while the tree stores, we restore. With the utmost respect.