In an appeal, initiated by the Swedish organization Protect the Forest, more than 170 scientists
demand that the Swedish Government act and protect old-growth forests and other forests with
high conservation values in Sweden, before it is too late. The appeal is supported by 19
organizations and thousands of individuals, including members of the Swedish Parliament and
cultural celebrities. At a press conference in Stockholm today, the appeal will be delivered to the
Government and the opposition parties.
The action proposals in the appeal are stated during 2010, UN’s International Year of Biodiversity.
This is the year when the Swedish environmental objective, Sustainable Forests, should be
achieved and a new interim target for long-term protection of forest land should be adopted.
Sweden is, however, far from achieving the objective of preserving biodiversity and a living forest
landscape.
“Being one of the world’s richest countries, Sweden can afford to preserve the last remaining
natural forests,” said Sven G. Nilsson, Professor of Ecology at Lund University. “Also, extensive
work is needed to restore conservation values in many forests, in order to be able to set aside
20 percent of the Swedish productive forest land for nature conservation.”
The Government is expected to present its environmental objective bill in the coming weeks,
where the ambition regarding future forest protection will be described. There are strong
concerns that it will not be sufficient.
“We are now at a crossroads. Despite 20 years of forest policies in which the environmental
and production objective should be of equal importance, forests with high conservation values
are still being logged, forests that are required to achieve the environmental objective,” said
Bengt Gunnar Jonsson, Professor of Plant Ecology at Mid Sweden University. “It is simply not
possible to achieve the national environmental objective, which states that all native plant and
animal species should be safeguarded in viable populations, with only a few percent of the
original forests remaining.”
Press contacts:
Sven G. Nilsson, Professor of Ecology, Lund University: +46 (0)46 2224949, sven.nilsson@zooekol.lu.se
Bengt-Gunnar Jonsson, Professor of Plant Ecology, Mid Sweden University: +46 (0) 70 3307868,
bengt-gunnar.jonsson@miun.se
Amanda Tas, Secretary, Protect the Forest: +46 (0)76 7613533, amanda.tas@skyddaskogen.se
Viktor Säfve, Chairperson, Protect the Forest: +46 (0)76 1148811, viktor.safve@skyddaskogen.se
Link to the appeal here.