Sweden’s forestry model combines productivity with strong environmental responsibility. It is based on long-term, sustainable practices that ensure future generations can enjoy and use at least as much forest as we do today.
Seventy-five per cent of Swedish forests are managed. Clear-cutting is the predominant forest management system in Sweden. It is combined with various environmental protection measures, ranging from the preservation of entire forest areas to specific actions that promote biodiversity in each management activity (for example, leaving broad-leaved trees and deadwood in place).
The average size of a Swedish clear-cut area is 4.5 hectares, and the median size is 2.5 hectares. The farther south you go, the smaller the clear-cut areas.
A cycle that lasts a century
Historically, clear-cutting became the standard method in Sweden for both productivity and environmental reasons. In the 1950s, there was criticism of the forest degradation caused by selective dimension cutting. The new scientific method of clear-cutting resolved many environmental problems that forestry faced then, and still faces in other parts of the world. With the clear-cutting method, forest management follows a cyclical process with various phases, just like in agriculture.
Ownership
Sweden has one of the most mixed forest ownership structures in the world. Forest owners have considerable freedom under Swedish law, combined with responsibility for sustainable management. Read more about ownership here.
