Biodiversity is the species, environments and processes that maintain and create the environments. Biodiversity is the basis for functioning ecosystems and functioning ecosystems are the basis for life. Millions of years of evolution have created the complex ecosystems of natural forests. A large part of the biological processes take place through species that we do not usually see with the naked eye or do not think about, such as fungal mycelium and small but extremely numerous insects and other arthropods. Natural forests are much richer in biodiversity than industrial tree stands. In Sweden there are several thousand forest-dwelling species, but only a few dozen tree species. These tree species are the backbone of the system, despite the fact that they are only a small part of the forest’s diversity. The forest is the land-based ecosystem that globally houses the most species. Natural forests contain large amounts of dead wood both lying and standing, old and fresh, coarse and weak. Did you know that over 6000 species in the Swedish forests are dependent on dead wood?

The forest is the ecosystem that covers most of the country, and has been strongly negatively affected by modern forestry over the past 100-150 years, and especially in the last 60-70 years when today’s dominant clear-cutting era took off. The landscape transformation that has taken place from natural forests to young dense production stands (timber fields) and plantations disadvantages and threatens many species that live in the forest. This is important to pay attention to because the loss of biodiversity is as big a threat to our civilization as climate change. It is important to protect rare species as well as ecosystems in the long term.

Sweden is home to an essential part of the EU’s natural heritage, in the form of priceless natural forests that have never before been clear-felled

An important part of the EU’s natural heritage is in Sweden.

Sweden is home to a significant part of the EU’s natural heritage, in the form of priceless natural forests that have never before been clear-felled, so-called continuity forests and in the form of old deciduous tree environments. However, it is crucial to understand that the continuity forests and other valuable forest environments are just remnants of what once existed, and that these remnants are still being lost at a rapid rate.

With today’s slow protection work due to too little financial funding for forest protection and the rapid pace of clear-felling, virtually all unprotected continuity forest in Sweden will be gone within one or two decades. We have then exchanged our natural heritage for bioenergy and unnecessary disposable items in paper and cardboard. It will take only a few years to complete the transformation, but hundreds and even thousands of years to restore new continuity forests.

Natural forests are rich in biodiversity and can thus contribute to public health, they provide us with food, drinking water, medicines, outdoor life, inspiration for inventions and cultural expressions. Biodiversity-rich forests are the basis for the ecosystem services that we all depend on: pollination, water regulation, water purification, climate regulation, carbon storage, and air purification. It is the healthy natural forests that protect us against disasters through their resilience, or resilience and resilience.

What Protect the Forest does: We work on all fronts to ensure that Sweden lives up to international environmental goals, conventions, EU directives and national environmental goals. We review and engage in dialogue with forest companies, private forest owners, authorities and politicians. We work with mapping of endangered species and valuable natural forests. We work at international, EU, national and regional level for the protection of valuable natural forests and the restoration of forest landscapes. We conduct public education and work with advocacy campaigns.