The environmental organizations Protect the Forest and Greenpeace are today launching the joint campaign “Forest Choice 2026”. Through a national appeal, the organizations want to put pressure on the parliamentary parties to immediately introduce a logging ban in all of Sweden’s remaining unprotected natural and continuity forests. The background is, among other things, that the Swedish Forest Agency has issued a sharp warning – if everything continues as it is today, there will be no natural and continuity forest below the mountainous border outside protected or set aside areas in just 26 years. An area of forest worthy of protection larger than twice Gotland will then have been felled.
“It would be an irreversible loss. If they disappear, we cannot get them back within the lifetimes of our children, grandchildren or even great-grandchildren,” says Elin Götmark, spokesperson, Protect the Forest.
As a central part of the campaign, an extensive election survey will also be launched in which the parliamentary parties have answered 14 questions about how they stand on the forest issue. The Green Party and the Left Party stand out in a positive way and want, for example, to stop the felling of forests worthy of protection, reduce felling levels for the sake of the climate and allow the Sami to have greater influence in forest management on their traditional reindeer grazing lands. However, the Tidö parties, the Social Democrats and the Center Party answered no to the same questions. On skogsvalet.se it is possible to read all the parties’ answers to even more questions.
Urgent protection of natural and continuity forests is crucial for environmental objectives
Sweden’s last unprotected natural and continuity forests are being felled at a rapid pace, despite the fact that they are absolutely crucial for the country to be able to achieve its environmental and climate goals. Most of the Swedish forest land has already been clear-cut and converted into young forests, industrial forests and tree plantations. Sweden has committed to protecting 30% of nature by 2030. To be in line with the EU Biodiversity Strategy, EU directives, and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, at least 30 percent of the productive forest land should be protected. Priority shall be given to areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services. They need to be ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably managed systems of protected areas. Today, only about 6 percent of Swedish productive forests have formal protection.
“When authorities warn that unique forest environments can be lost forever, the government chooses to pursue a policy that facilitates further felling. It exacerbates an already acute situation for both the climate and biodiversity, which is deeply irresponsible,” says Karolina Carlsson, campaign manager forest, Greenpeace
“If hundreds of thousands of hectares of unprotected natural and continuity forests are allowed to disappear, we are talking about a loss that cannot be repaired in the foreseeable future. Political courage and urgent measures are needed now,” says Benjamin Ladraa, communications officer at Protect the Forest
Forests with rich ecosystems also need protection for climate reasons
Sweden is also not achieving its climate goals. Research shows that clear-cutting accounts for enormous emissions of greenhouse gases and that reduced felling would provide large and immediate climate benefits. Studies also show that old natural forests store much more carbon than production forests, and that there is therefore a large carbon debt. A relatively new study shows that the transformation of the forest landscape has caused a carbon loss that could be estimated to be greater than Sweden’s total fossil emissions since 1824. The remaining natural and continuity forests should be protected both to protect biodiversity and the climate.
The government and the forest industry’s hostility to nature are doing Sweden a disservice
The international market has already begun to react strongly to the major sustainability problems in Swedish forestry. Three major global companies – Zalando, Nestlé and L’Oréal – have recently opted out of crude fibre and forest products from SCA, Europe’s largest private forest owner. The companies refuse to be associated with what has become the standard for the Swedish forest industry: the impoverishment of biodiversity, massive carbon dioxide emissions and violations of indigenous peoples’ rights in Sami reindeer herding.
Protect the Forest and Greenpeace urge all their followers, sister organizations and the public to sign the petition, read the election survey to see in black and white where the parties stand and to place great emphasis on the parties’ forest and environmental policies when they cast their vote in the upcoming elections.
Press contacts and spokespersons:
- Protect the Forest – Elin Götmark: elin.gotmark@skyddaskogen.se | skyddaskogen.se
- Greenpeace Sweden – Karolina Carlsson: karolina.carlsson@greenpeace.org | greenpeace.se
To the editors / Background facts:
URL for the roll call and election survey: Skogsvalet.se
What are forests worthy of protection?
These include (1) primeval forests, natural forests and continuity forests, (2) key habitats, conservation value objects and other forests with conservation values (specified in municipal plans, according to SIS standards or similar), (3) areas classified by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the County Administrative Boards as value cores, i.e. areas of great importance for plants and animals, (4) hanging lichen and lichen-rich older forests that are important for Sami reindeer husbandry, and (5) all forest habitat types according to the EU: s Habitats Directive, which lacks favourable conservation status. These five categories can overlap in many cases.
What is a continuity forest?
A continuity forest is a forest that has never been clear-felled. These forests have a unique biodiversity linked to long continuity of tree cover and most often of dead wood and other important habitats.
Continuity forest is defined by the Swedish Forest Agency (2011) as: “forest with species whose occurrence is explained by the fact that there have been suitable forest environments and substrates in this particular forest or in its vicinity for a long time”.
Read more about natural and continuity forests and what defines them in the reports Biodiversity in the forest and Virgin and natural forests below.
The Swedish Forest Agency’s report: Biodiversity in the forest (2026):
https://www.skogsstyrelsen.se/globalassets/om-oss/rapporter/rapporter-2026/rapport-2026-07-biologisk-mangfald-i-skogen.pdf
The Swedish Forest Agency’s report: Living Forests In-depth evaluation (2023):
https://www.skogsstyrelsen.se/globalassets/om-oss/rapporter/rapporter-20222021202020192018/rapport-2022-12-levande-skogar—fordjupad-utvardering-2023.pdf
The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish Forest Agency’s report: Virgin and natural forests (2023)
https://www.sou.gov.se/contentassets/e66f5e3eaaed43ddb8ae786a452eed39/underlagsrapport-urskogar-och-naturskogar—kunskapsunderlag.pdf
Red List 2025:
https://www.slu.se/artdatabanken/publikationer/rodlistor/rodlista-2025/
Major international call for Swedish forests signed by over 260 researchers and over 70 organizations, which collectively represent millions of committed members (2023): www.swedishforestvision.org
