Last Friday, members from Protect the Forest visited Ryssbergen in Nacka Municipality to show support for the threatened forest there and in connection with Fridays for Future. The urban forest at Ryssbergen has the character of a primeval forest with pine trees that are over 300 years old, but despite this, Nacka Municipality is planning to exploit it . “Like demolishing houses in the Old Town and building high-rise buildings there,” according to the group “Rädda Ryssbergen” (Save Ryssbergen).
The municipality plans to build 500 flats at Ryssbergen, one of Stockholm’s most unsuitable places. The area slopes steeply down towards Svindersviken, part of the Baltic Sea. On “Save Ryssbergen”’s website you can read that there is swamp forest, deciduous forest, pine forest and fire fields in the area.
The planned development area consists mostly of forests with nature value classes 1 and 2, according to SIS standard SS 199000:2014. Nature value class 2 corresponds to the concept of a key forest biotope.
Nacka Municipality is planning to establish a nature reserve in the northern part of the forest but the Nacka Society for Nature Conservation and the group “Save Ryssbergen” would like the entire forest to become a nature reserve. Protect the Forest supports this idea. During the autumn, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation appealed the building plans to the highest court.
Inventories have found 28 threatened species in the area, of which 11 species are red-listed, according to a nature value inventory from 2016. Since the fire in June 2018, biodiversity has increased. Ryssbergen is often compared to Tyresta National Park as the area has similar natural values.
“Like demolishing houses in the Old Town”
On Save Ryssbergen’s website you can also read: “It must be remembered that Ryssbergen is one of the Stockholm’s most valuable natural areas in terms of biodiversity. If one is to draw parallels with cultural-historical values, the planned developments in Ryssbergen can be compared to demolishing a quarter of the Old Town to build high-rise buildings.”
The County Administrative Board of Stockholm County has been critical of the construction plans and believes that the entire planned development area should be included in a future nature reserve.
Fridays for Forest and Future
Members of Protect the Forest intend to draw attention to more endangered forests on Fridays in connection with “Fridays for Forest and Future”. There are large amounts of carbon bound in forests such as the one at Ryssbergen, both in the ground and in the trees. If you exploit the forest, the carbon ends up in the atmosphere and contributes to the greenhouse effect. To curb climate change, we need to preserve more forests.
Help save Ryssbergen, sign the petition!