Of Sweden’s total 28 million hectares of forest land, approximately 25 per cent is excluded from forestry activities in various ways. A further 8-10 per cent of managed forest land is set aside in conjunction with felling.
Formally protected forest
There are a number of different forms of protection available to forests in Sweden. There are 30 national parks, more than 5,200 nature reserves, more than 8,400 biotope protection areas, and 5,400 nature conservation agreements.
According to Statistics Sweden (SCB), a total of 9 per cent of Sweden’s forest land is subjected to some form of formal protection. Of this, roughly 1.3 million hectares were productive forest land, which corresponds to almost 6 per cent of the country’s productive forest land.
Voluntarily set-aside forest
1.4 million hectares have been voluntarily set aside in Sweden. These are areas of productive forest land where the forest owner takes responsibility for preserving valuable habitats, cultural heritage sites or social values.
There are two established, international certifications in Sweden for responsible forestry: PEFC and FCS. Forest land owners who are either FSC- or PEFC-certified refrain from cultivating at least 5 per cent of productive forest on their land.
Unproductive forest land
Unproductive forest land refers to forest on fallow land where total tree growth is less than one cubic metre per hectare per year. According to the Forest Protection Act, these areas are exempt from forestry and are important for green infrastructure, biodiversity and other ecosystem services. Unproductive forest land, outside formally protected forest, amounts to 11 per cent of Sweden’s forest land, according to Statistics Sweden.
