Members of Protect the Forest have demonstrated with a banner saying “Protect the Forest” outside the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm. We want to draw attention to the fact that Sweden’s forest policy has devastating consequences for biological diversity and the climate. Fridays for Future with Greta was as always on site at Mynttorget.
To reduce logging, stop clear-cutting forests, start restoring forests and to promote more deciduous trees is an effective climate solution that is possible to implement – a climate solution that many researchers are putting forward. But in Sweden things are going in the opposite direction. The Swedish forest industry uses climate change as an excuse to increase production levels. The politicians listen to the industry and to the myth that increased harvesting and growth of biomass provides the greatest climate benefit.
Sweden still hosts a large part of the remaining natural forests with high conservation values in northwestern Europe. But these forests are drastically decreasing all the time. Logging companies and landowners (who are usually FSC certified), continue to cut down forests with high conservation values because they are not protected. In Sweden, only about 6 percent of the productive forest land is formally protected.
Threatened forests which Protect the Forest has visited with a banner:
Forest with high conservation values to be logged at Gallsjön
Frödinge Skog has carried out logging without leaving edge zones
The Bagarmossen forest is threatened by construction road and stone crusher