SCA-FILES

"500 single mistakes"

Summary

This report calls attention to the unsustainable forest management of the Swedish forest company Swedish Cellulosa AB (SCA). Is trading with forest products based on virgin fibers from SCA in Sweden in line with your company’s sustainability policy? This report shows that the risk is extremely high, almost to the extent of a guarantee, that buyers will receive products which originate from conservation value forests or infringe on indigenous Sámi rights. The report also uncovers the fact that existing certification schemes in Sweden as FSC/PEFC do not guarantee a socially or environmentally responsible forest management.

SCA’s logging of forests with conservation values has been, and continues to be, on a systematic level and on a landscape-scale. This report presents a list of more than 500 examples of logged and threatened forests with conservation values, disproving SCA’s claims that such cases are only ”single mistakes” or the result of ”human error”.

Note that even though this report focuses on Sweden’s largest private forest company SCA, the same issues and challenges, more or less apply to all major forest companies and related industries operating in the country. With the alarming rate of biodiversity loss and the ongoing decimation of indigenous reindeer grazing land, Protect the Forest labels Sweden as a high-risk country for trading wood products with.

The SCA-files

What are the SCA-files?

The SCA-files is a case study of the environmental impact of SCA’s forestry operations. The findings are very alarming – over a third of all logging notifications on SCA’s own land holdings are in probable and potential continuity forests. The study further shows that SCA has, and is planning to log, within planned nature reserves, registered Woodland Key Habitats, in internationally unique valuable natural forests in the Scandinavian Mountains Green Belt, and other areas with documented conservation values across the boreal region of Sweden.

500 examples of “single mistakes”

Field experts’ inventories and reports from the past 25 years show how the company continuously has cut down forests with conservation values, despite the fact that they were given information about the natural values ​​of these forests prior to logging. SCA has received repeated criticism and countless formal complaints within the certification system, during the years they have been FSC certified. The FSC has proved itself incapable of addressing and rectifying these obvious violations of the regulations.

We have compiled a list of 500 ”individual mistakes”, which both show that the same “mistakes” are repeated year after year, despite fact-based criticism, and that it involves large-scale destruction and degradation of conservation value forests.

Field reports from areas SCA has notified for felling, or which they have already logged, show the systematic destruction of important habitats for red-listed and protected species. More than 95% of SCA’s forestry is done through clear-cutting, and about 80% of all clear-cuts are replanted with refined seedlings, creating ecologically and genetically depleted industrial production tree stands dominated by even-aged spruce and/or pine. As the practice of clear-cutting has been carried out by SCA and all major forest companies in Sweden since the 1950’s, and beyond, this transition from old, bio-diverse continuity forests to young, depleted production stands is on a landscape level in the boreal region of Sweden.

As many of the young production stands in the north are still not ready for harvesting, SCA has locked their target on the remaining unprotected continuity forests. There is no state authority which is set to systematically survey conservation values prior to logging, so with very few exceptions the natural values of logged forests were undocumented. Even though our field studies only cover a small fraction of what is logged every year, they show that SCA to a large extent has logged forests with red-listed and protected species.

Systematic and large scale logging of probable continuity forests

Is SCA:s logging of conservation value forests a question of a few individual ”mistakes” - as the company claims - or is it in fact a systematic clear-cutting of probable continuity forests and conservation value forests?

In addition to the 500 examples in this report, cases that are only the tip of an iceberg, statistics for all of SCA’s current logging plans shows that the clear-cutting within the area of mapped probable and potential continuity forests is systematic, and not a matter of interpretation, or a matter of “single mistake”.

The statistics of SCA’s logging plans in the following graphs, so called notifications for final felling, clearly show that the company systematically plans to clear-cut and convert natural and near-natural forests, that have not previously been clear-cut, into industrial production tree stands and tree plantations.

The continuity forest map layers have a relatively large overlap with core-areas, old-growth forest and with forest with conservation value, which means that logging within the mapped layer means a loss of valuable habitats and a great risk of degrading and destroying forests with natural values.

Analysis of SCA´s logging plans

Our analysis of SCA’s logging plans shows the overlap with probable continuity forests, as well as with their own previously set-asides areas for nature conservation. We have also produced data showing how much of these forests which are converted into production tree stands planted with seedlings from nurseries, and which in the future will most likely be managed in such a way that they are dominated by planted seedlings. To put it simply: conversion of natural forests into tree plantations.

The graph shows that SCA systematically plans to clear-cut forests within the mapped area of probable and potential continuity forest (PCF). SCA operates both on its own land holdings and on a large scale also on small private landowners forest land. In February of 2024, a total of 36 802 hectares of PCF was notified for final felling by SCA, in the four counties covered by the analysis.

Both the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and Protect the Forests have done estimates on the overlap between PCF and core areas (“värdekärna”, defined as conservation value forests) and old-growth forests. For northern Sweden, the region where SCA operates, the estimate is that there is a large overlap (roughly 65%) between probable continuity forest and core areas and/or old-growth forests.

SCA’s notifications for final felling in PCF (percentage of hectares)

SCA’s notifications for final felling in PCF (percentage of hectares)

The data, which is based on SEPA’s refined remote sensing mapping of areas of probable continuity forest, simplified, covers all forest areas/stands over 5 hectares, in the counties included in the analysis. Mapped continuity forest stands below 5 hectares (but larger than half a hectare) is defined as potential continuity forest, and is also part of the data in the analysis. Note! 98% of SCA’s logging notifications are within the four northern counties covered by this analysis. In addition, SCA has also notified forest areas with potential continuity forest in Gävleborg County for final felling (clear-cutting), and a small area owned by a private landowner in Dalarna County. Because the data for continuity forests in Gävleborg County is not refined (and therefore partially different from the other counties in the analysis), and because the area in Dalarna County is not statistically significant, we have chosen to exclude statistics from these counties from the analysis and the graph. The graph above excludes notifications of areas that are categorized as disturbed probable continuity forest.

The felling notifications data comes from the Swedish Forest Agency (SFA).

This graph clearly shows that SCA plans to continue the large-scale conversion from naturally regenerated continuity forests into planted managed production stands. The latest data from early 2024 shows that SCA had notified 31 262 hectares of PCF for final felling with the plan to plant them with refined seedlings of pine or spruce.

Planned conversion of PCF (percentage of hectares notified to be planted)

Logging areas previously set-aside for nature conservation

The designation of Woodland Key Habitats (WKHs) and other voluntarily set-aside areas for nature conservation required by certification is carried out by the companies themselves, without any involvement or evaluation from authorities. As voluntary set-aside areas are not permanently protected, the companies are allowed to freely change the status of any given area. Our analysis shows that currently more than 3% of the areas notified for final felling were set-asides just four years ago.

Not even designated WKHs are guaranteed protection, and there are several cases where we have seen SCA log in WKH. Sometimes these loggings are carried out under the guise of nature conservation management, where we have found the large amount of trees harvested unjustified and counterproductive from any ecological point of view. For example, areas where SCA has carried out so called “conservation fires” are regularly heavily thinned prior to burning. Often as much as 70% of the trees are harvested from these forests, thus removing the most important ecological key factor for the burnt forest, i.e. damaged and dead wood.

Planned conversion of PCF (percentage of hectares notified to be planted)

Note: At the time of the analysis, 2335 hectares of previously set-aside areas were notified for final felling.

The graph shows that SCA to a certain extent also plans to log forests previously set-aside for nature conservation. At the time of the analysis, 2335 hectares of areas which were set-aside just four years ago were notified for final felling.

About SCA

A century of forest pillaging

The destruction of northern Sweden’s natural forests has been going on since the rise of the timber industry in the 1800s, where most of the forests at the time were untouched by intensive forestry. During the so-called first timber front, only the large trees were selectively cut.

The selective logging in the old natural forests left behind natural forests that at the time were more sparse. Many natural forests that were historically affected by selective logging, and still have not been clear-cut, today have high conservation values. Both natural forests that were affected by this historic selective felling, and such forests that were unaffected, were naturally regenerated forests that had not previously been clear-cut, so-called continuity forests.

With the dawn of the era when large-scale and mechanised clear-cutting became totally prevalent, in the 1950s, this depletion of natural forests took a turn for the worse.

Since Swedish Cellulosa AB (SCA) was founded in 1929, the company has been at the forefront of this destruction of continuity forests. After nearly a century of ruthless forestry in continuity forests, mostly scattered and fragmented areas of continuity forests remain below the mountain region. And as many secondary forests are still not ready for harvesting, SCA has locked their target on these last few percent of remaining unprotected continuity forests.

SCA is destroying Sweden’s natural forests

The Swedish company SCA is Europe’s largest private land holder, as well as one of Europe’s largest producers of pulp and wood products. The company owns more than 2 million hectares of productive forest, or about 10 percent of all the forests in Sweden. However, SCA’s industries need much more wood than what their own forests can produce every year. About 50% of SCA’s annual wood supply comes from forests owned by small private landowners or other companies, where SCA in general also performs the forestry operations.

SCA’s forests are located in the northern part of Sweden, the home to some of Europe’s remaining continuity and old-growth forests, an important part of the EU’s natural heritage. For decades, the company’s forestry practices have been heavily criticised for not protecting natural forests and for not taking sufficient environmental consideration. Through the years, there have been constant reports of SCA logging forests with high conservation values, but there has been no real change in the company’s forestry methods.

SCA’s nature conservation efforts are modest and are not in line with global targets for nature protection, nor are they in line with the recommendations based on nature conservation research. The company only sets aside a few percent of their productive forest land as voluntary nature conservation areas. Most of their forest land is intensively managed with clear-cut forestry. Bio-diverse rich forests are clear-cut in order to supply the raw material for SCA’s saw mills and paper mills, and replanted with coniferous plantations and production stands.

However, even with such low levels of environmental consideration, SCA is able to sell their wood and paper products at high market prices by claiming them to be “environmentally friendly”. The FSC-certification was supposed to guarantee that wood and fibre products would come from socially and environmentally sustainable forest management. This has proven time after time to be nothing more than a green washing fraud.

Countless complaints have been raised against SCA during the 25 years since FSC was founded. The company has without doubt repeatedly and systematically breached a number of FSC-regulations, but the system has had no intent of addressing these shortcomings. As a result, the large majority of the environmental organisations who first endorsed FSC Sweden have abandoned it.

Is FSC Sweden falling apart?

In the wake of the past years storm of criticism against SCA, their lead FSC-auditor DNV terminated their contract, as reported by Sweden’s second largest daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter. In February of 2024, DNV renewed SCA’s FSC certificate for another five years, despite new reports by environmental NGO’s of violations of the FSC standard. In July DNV returned all pending formal FSC-complaints and there was no word of who would be their new auditors until 1st of October 2024.

In practice this means that for more than six months, there was no control mechanism in place ensuring that SCA was following FSC-regulations and no means for the public to interact in any way with the FSC-system. The credibility of FSC as a guarantee for responsible forest management is crumbling before our eyes.

This clearly shows that the only thing guaranteed for a product carrying the Swedish FSC label is that the product comes from unsustainably managed forest.

The era of large-scale clear-cutting in the north
- An ecosystem replacement and forest degradation tragedy

SCA is Europe’s largest private forest owner with Europe as its main market. Many Europeans use disposable items and hygiene products that come from forests felled by SCA. However, few know how huge SCA’s ecological footprint is.

The company claims that the examples of SCA-logged conservation value forests raised by NGOs are only individual mistakes. This graph shows reality! The SCAvenging is systematic, continuous and large-scale!

For almost a century SCA has been, and still is, one of the largest loggers of continuity forests, i.e. natural forests which have not previously been clear-cut.

This illustration shows a large forest area where SCA is the major owner and operator. Their land holdings are demarcated in red.

The map shows parts of the large municipalities of Strömsund, Sollefteå and Ragunda in northern Sweden. Since the full-scale introduction of clear-cutting, 88% of the forests in this area have been clear-felled. During the same time about 5 114 km of forest roads have been built. Illustration: Jon Andersson

The green areas mostly show continuity forests and older forest stands, with very few exceptions. The yellow areas show clear-cuts, which are followed by the establishment of young production stands or forest plantations.

Forest roads for logging trucks are marked in black. The road network divides the landscape and some species find it more difficult to move about. In addition, the flow of water through the soil changes, and the natural distribution of nutrients is disturbed.

The forest heritage in the north and SCA

Sweden harbours an important part of the EU’s natural heritage. The Swedish forest landscape is diverse and contains several areas of habitat types protected under the Habitats Directive, many of which are still unprotected, from the Western taiga with primary- and old-growth forests and naturally regenerated continuity forests, to the Fennoscandian hemiboreal natural old broad-leaved deciduous- and beech forests. Sweden is also assessed as having the largest area of remaining continuity forest within the EU, i.e. forest which have not previously been subjected to clearcutting.

The Scandinavian Mountains Green Belt is the largest intact forest landscape in the European Union. It is largely situated within the borders of Sweden, and is a unique natural heritage from a European as well as international perspective. About half of these intact mountain forests still lack strict protection, and some wood from forestry within the Green Belt still potentially ends up in the supply chains of certified forest companies.

In May 2024 the Swedish Radio reported that over 6000 hectares of the internationally valuable natural forests in the Scandinavian Mountains Green Belt has been cut down in just four years. SCA is one of the two biggest loggers in the area according to the report.

Ongoing logging by SCA within the area proposed for protection within the Green Belt. Stor-Gruveln, Jämtland County, september 2024. Photo: Daniel Rutschman

However, it’s important to note that it is outside the Scandinavian Mountains Green Belt, where the vast majority of all productive forest land is found, and where active forestry is the norm. It is also below the border of subalpine forest land, that most felling of forests with conservation values ​​takes place. SCA is probably one of the absolute largest harvesters of continuity forests in the EU.

The preservation of unprotected forests with high conservation values in Sweden is critical to maintaining biodiversity and protecting ecosystem functions.

An in-depth assessment by the Swedish Forest Agency of Sweden’s environmental quality objective pertaining to forests shows that the objective will not be achieved with existing policy instruments and measures. It concludes that the logging of natural forests and continuity forest is the driving cause of the negative trend for biodiversity in the forest and that “ensuring that remaining forests with very high natural values are preserved is crucial and needs to be addressed urgently.”

About 2000 forest-dwelling species re red-listed. Approximately 1,000 red-listed forest-dwelling species are assessed as threatened, of which at least 394 species are assessed as threatened due to clear-cutting.

Moreover the Swedish Species Information Center at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences states that “approximately 1,400 red-listed species are strongly negatively affected by logging” and that the ”lack of continuity forests, i.e. forests that have never been clear-cut, is one of the main reasons why forest-dwelling species are listed on the Red List.” They conclude that ”in order to reverse the trend of declining populations, unprotected forest environments, with habitats for red-listed species, need to be preserved in the long term throughout the country.”.

Sweden does not meet agreed national and
international forest biodiversity commitments.

Sweden should protect and restore forests in line with EU species and habitats directives, biodiversity- and forest strategies and the CBD-framework by 2030. In line with the EU biodiversity strategy, EU directives and international agreements, at least 30 percent of the productive forest land should be protected, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services. They need to be ecologically representative, well-connected, and equitably governed systems of protected areas. Today, only about 6 percent of the Swedish productive forest has long-term, quality assured and transparent protection; however, the productive forest land hosts the most diverse nature types and provides habitats for the majority of the red listed forest species. The target must be achieved by 2030 and be well-distributed across the different forest regions. To achieve a functional protection of 30 percent, significant restoration efforts are required for large areas.

Today, certified forestry’s contribution to meeting environmental targets is modest or negative. Representatives from forestry and industry actively lobby against EU legislation and act to weaken or dilute the interpretation of international and national environmental targets relating to forest, something that must change. The few percent that are set aside voluntarily within the framework of the certifications, is far below the levels recommended by researchers and far from international environmental targets. Certified loggings of forest with conservation values make it difficult to meet environmental goals, and is directly counterproductive.

SCA is the EU’s largest private forest owner, and a large-scale logger of continuity forests. The systematic logging of continuity forests and old-growth forest with conservation values have a very negative ​​affect Sweden’s chances to live up to international and national environmental targets and directives.

SCA’s environmental and nature conservation ambitions are too modest and the proportion of voluntary set-asides of forest land too small-scale and low-level, to live up to environmental targets and the scientists recommended minimum levels of area set-aside for nature conservation. It’s also too small-scale to manage to preserve all native species in viable populations, within SCA:s forest land holdings.

We can conclude that the degradation of forests and biodiversity is progressing despite increased nature conservation efforts in recent decades.

The Sámi and the forests

In the north, the Sámi culture, including the reindeer husbandry, are dependent on the forest for their livelihoods. One of the major threats for Sámi culture is the loss of reindeer grazing land due to direct or indirect impacts from competing land use, such as commercial forestry. The forest provides shelter and food for the reindeer, as well as materials for Sámi handicrafts.

Forestry methods such as soil scarification and the use of fertilisers have a large negative impact on the ground lichens, the primary food resource for the reindeer. Furthermore, the dense canopy of young coniferous plantations allows less light to reach the ground, which is detrimental to the light-demanding ground lichen.

During a period of 60 years the lichen-abundant forest land
in the Swedish boreal landscape has declined by 70 percent.

The large-scale fragmentation of forests and loss of important grazing lands have pushed reindeer husbandry to the edge of survival.

Especially the on-going clear-cut forestry aggravates the condition for the reindeer husbandry by destroying habitats for tree living beard lichens, which is the second most important food source for the reindeer. Also, forestry and its infrastructure have significantly reduced the area of old spruce forests, which provide relief for the reindeers from heat and insects.

The forest industry has since the 1970’s planted more than 600 000 hectares with the non-native tree species Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta). This is another great obstacle for reindeer husbandry, as these dense forests are completely unusable and create barriers for reindeer herding. The Organisation for Sámi in Sweden (SSR) has declared a zero-tolerance for new Lodgepole pine plantations on reindeer herding land and demand that existing plantations must be phased out.

SCA has approximately 300 000 hectares of Lodgepole pine plantations, which corresponds to 15 percent of SCA’s productive forest land. That is half of all Lodgepole pine in Sweden. Therefore, they bear a great deal of responsibility for the negative environmental effects and for the negative effects that these plantations have on Sami reindeer husbandry.

Total area of Lodgepole pine plantations on sca-land

Lodgepole pine: Total area and annual plantation. Source: SCA report 2023

The climate

Halting the destruction and fragmentation of forest ecosystems as well as restoring and protecting the world’s forests is fundamental; not in the least to strengthen the resilience of the ecosystems during a period when the climate gets increasingly extreme. In a time when reduction of emissions and safeguarding every possible carbon sink and carbon storage is critical, the Swedish forestry and industry continuously moves large amounts of carbon out of the forests and into the atmosphere. Clearcutting emits large amounts of greenhouse gases.

Research shows that reduced logging levels provide large climate benefits in the coming decades. The time factor is important - the next few years will be critical, if we are to reach international climate- and environmental targets, mitigate negative climate effects and avoid exceeding so-called ”tipping points”.

The most effective way to mitigate climate change is to void emissions of carbon, and to preserve and enhance the natural carbon stocks and carbon sinks. Emissions must be rapidly reduced from both fossil and biogenic sources.

Studies show that tree plantations, in general, store less carbon than the former old natural forest, regardless of geographic region.

An old forest has a large carbon stock. Besides the trees, large amounts of carbon are stored in the soil, enhanced by the fungal networks. Disturbances such as fires or storms may affect the amounts of carbon in an old forest, but undisturbed, it may continue to build up carbon for centuries. Studies have shown that old-growth forests both store a lot of carbon, and can be large carbon sinks.

​Scientists and experts point out that we cannot wait for the trees that replace the forests being clear-cut today to grow back and rebind all the carbon. Exceeding 1.5°C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points. Planetary boundaries have already been overstepped.

Conclusion
- An ecosystem replacement and forest degradation tragedy

Although this report covers forestry carried out by SCA, we want to emphasise that the same issues surround all major forest companies and industries in Sweden. Four companies own ⅓ of all forests in Sweden: state-owned Sveaskog and the paper industry giants SCA, Stora Enso and Holmen. Other multinational paper and pulp producers like Mondi, Smurfit Kappa, Metsä Group, DS Smith and BillerudKorsnäs also have industries in Sweden where they source from certified forests. Together, the three forest owners’ associations, Norra Skog, Mellanskog and Södra log the largest volumes of wood, and supply both their own industries as well as others. But when it comes to clearcutting continuity forests, the major culprit is SCA.

Sweden places sixth out of all countries in the world when it comes to annual logging volumes - even though it only holds 0,6% of the world’s forests. It is the world’s third largest exporter of wood products, and 80% of everything that is produced is exported.

With the exceptions of some very small, local initiatives there is currently no commercially available forest products from Sweden that can guarantee an environmentally sound origin.

Today Protect the Forest considers Sweden a “high-risk country” to trade forest products with, and both forestry, industry and the government must take drastic measures to turn this situation around.

There are three main reasons why Sweden is a high-risk country:

  • Firstly the forest industry cannot guarantee its customers that the products do not come from forest degradation and from felled forests with conservation values. There are constantly new reports of certified companies logging natural forests with high conservation values. Right now, tens of thousands of hectares of forest are notified for final felling (planned to be clear-cut), within the mapped area of forests with high conservation values or probable conservation values! This is an underestimation, as the mapping does not contain all known natural and conservation values.
  • Secondly the current forest management negatively affects the Sámi reindeer husbandry. As previously stated, intense large-scale forestry is one of the largest threats to the future of this traditional livelihood, which is a fundamental part of the indigenous Sámi culture. When Sweden held the presidency for the EU Council in 2023, the government invited all member states senior forestry officials to a meeting to show them how ”sustainable forestry works in practice”. The meeting was held in the northern town of Skellefteå on traditional Sámi land, but not a single representative from the Sámi community was invited.
  • Thirdly the Swedish government pursues a policy hostile to nature conservation at the EU level. The lobbying from the Swedish forest industry and the government is aggressive and scientists warn that “Sweden threatens European biodiversity” as they act to weaken or stop important legislative initiatives from the EU. It is clear that Sweden is fighting to defend “The Swedish Forestry Model”, with clear-cuts as the predominant method. This raises concerns that the urgent needs for tackling the nature crisis in general, and specifically forest ecosystem, will not be adequately addressed.

Sweden has a particularly great responsibility because it holds a large part of the EU:s primary and old-growth forests and other forests with conservation values as well as being a large forestry and export country. Forestry and industry also have a large environmental debt to pay.

500 "Single mistakes"


Logged forests


Threatened forests


Withdrawn logging notifications

SCA’s logging of forests with conservation values has been, and continues to be, on a systematic level and on a landscape-scale. This report presents a list of more than 500 examples of logged and threatened forests with conservation values, disproving SCA’s claims that such cases are only ”single mistakes” or the result of ”human error”.

Logged forests

The following forests have been logged by SCA despite the company being informed in advance (or where such information was publicly available) of the forests’ natural values and/or occurrence of red-listed and protected species.

Marktjärn

2023, Västernorrland, Ånge, 41 hectare

41 hectares of natural forests with high conservation values was notified for felling in 2019. Most of the forest was logged 2023/24 without any notice to environmental NGOs, despite there being an ongoing complaint process. Findings of 20 red-listed species. PHOTO: Private

ASKEBERGET

2022, Norrbotten, Arjeplog, 10 hektar

10 hectares of old-growth forest with trees as old as 300 years was logged by SCA in 2022. The area was planned for protection by the County Administrative Board in Norrbotten. The logging was also in conflict with the consultations with the local Sámi village organisation Maskaure. PHOTO: David Johansson

THREATENED FORESTS

The following forests are currently* notified for final felling. Many of these forests are being processed by authorities or the environmental courts, after being appealed by environmental organisations. *this list has been compiled throughout 2024 and has not been continuously updated. Thus some areas may have been either logged or withdrawn.

ISOPALO

Västernorrland, Kiruna - 86,3 hectar

In 2023 SCA notified 84 hectares of old-growth spruce forest in nature reserve class for final felling. More than 400 findings of 35 different conservation value species have been reported, including Skeletocutis odora (VU), Skeletocutis chrysella (VU), Diplomitoporus crustulinus (VU), Amylocystis lapponica (VU) and Three-toed woodpecker (NT). PHOTO: Private

ASKEBERGET

2022, Norrbotten, Arjeplog, 10 hektar

10 hectares of old-growth forest with trees as old as 300 years was logged by SCA in 2022. The area was planned for protection by the County Administrative Board in Norrbotten. The logging was also in conflict with the consultations with the local Sámi village organisation Maskaure. PHOTO: David Johansson

WITHDRAWN LOGGING NOTIFICATIONS

These forests were once notified for final felling, but were withdrawn after complaints from environmental NGO’s. Some areas have since been protected as formal nature reserves or voluntary set-asides. The majority however still lack any kind of formal protection or long-term promises. In some cases, parts of the notified area was withdrawn while other parts were logged.

SÖRSJÖBERGET

Jämtland, Strömsund- 200 hectar

The forests at Sörsjöberget were notified for final felling in 2005. Today, some parts have been logged while large parts on the south side of the mountain are voluntarily set-asides or registered as Woodland Key Habitats. The top of the mountain is however still classified as forest which at some time will be logged with “adapted consideration”.

MAPPING OF CONTINUITY FOREST

Screen-shot from Forest Monitor. Pink and purple areas show probable and potential continuity forests. Yellow polygons show areas logged during the past 15-20 years.

Sweden holds a large part of the EU’s remaining continuity forests. But, with today’s rapid logging rate, scenarios and estimates made by scientists, authorities and experts indicate that most of the remaining continuity forests and old forests with conservation values, outside nature conservation areas, are at risk of being lost due to logging activities within approximately one to few decades.

The different map layers of older forests and continuity forest available in Sweden consist partly of Forest Monitor’s layer with potential older forest and continuity forest available for the whole of Sweden, and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) data layers of probable and potential continuity forests in the boreal region of Sweden. The data used as a basis for the analysis in this report is from SEPA.

Note that Forest Monitor’s definition of ”potential continuity forest” differs from SEPA in that Forest Monitor’s definition includes both probable and potential continuity forest, while SEPA distinguishes probable from potential.

Another, much bigger difference is that Forest Monitor has classified the entire data set into known conservation values, probable conservation values and other potential older forest and continuity forest.

Protect the Forest’s map service Forest Monitor has created data also for Southern Sweden, and published a modified version of SEPA:s layer of continuity forest in the boreal region. This data, as mentioned, is classified into three categories based on open data on whether the forests contain known high conservation values or probable conservation values.

The total area of potential and probable continuity forest in the boreal region, where SCA do their forestry operations, has been mapped with remote sensing by Metria commissioned by the SEPA. Metria and SEPA have also published refined mapping of continuity forest in the subalpine and montane forest, and in the counties of Norrbotten, Dalarna, Jämtland, Västerbotten and Västernorrland.

Today, the remote sensing of continuity forests and old forests also include some areas of secondary forest, so they will need further quality control and revision.

Metria’s first mapping presented a relatively large overestimation and some underestimation of the total area of continuity forest. This is due to, among other things (such as method errors), the fact that in the boreal region there is a partly diversified history of forest use. A minor study has indicated that clear-cutting occurred in one eastern part (near forest industries) of the boreal region as early as the beginning of the 20th century. While in other parts of the boreal region, in the northwest, clear-cutting was probably introduced as common practice, on a large scale as late as in the 1950s.

Of course, not all forest land mapped with remote sensing as older forest and probable continuity forest is forest with high conservation values. However, validations of the map layers from SEPA and Protect the Forest´s Forest monitor service, show a high accuracy in finding older forests and continuity forests that arose before the mechanisation of clear-cut forestry in the 1950s.

Validations of the mapped area of probable continuity forest shows that most of the mapped area is continuity forest or older forests and estimates based on samples and on validation via large random field inventories indicates that a large part of these areas have natural and conservation values, or are so-called core areas and/or old-growth forests.

How large area of primary and old-growth forest outside strictly protected forest land, is there in Sweden?

THE SWEDISH ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY´S (SEPA) ROUGH ESTIMATE:

  • 2.2 – 2.8 million hectares of forest land.
  • 1.5 – 1.8 million hectares of productive forest land in total.
  • 0.525 million hectares of productive forest land (outside of formally protected areas) only in the internationally unique, and the EU’s largest intact forest landscape of the Scandinavian Mountains Green Belt.

FOREST MONITOR´S ROUGH ESTIMATE:

  • 2.8 million hectares of unprotected older forest and continuity forest with conservation values. Estimated overlap between primary and old-growth forest and map layer of probable continuity forest SEPA rough estimate: 50 – 80% overlap (Northern Sweden).
  • The authorities assess that a relatively large part (approx. 40 – 70% ) of these probable continuity forests on productive land is old-growth forest according to the current definition (EU-commission).
  • Forest Monitor (Protect the Forest Sweden) rough estimate (based on validation via large random field inventories): 59 – 76 % overlap (Northern Sweden) of the mapped area of potential older forest and continuity forests (skogsmonitor.se) are core areas (forest with conservation values). Forest monitor´s random field inventories include some potential continuity forests smaller than 5 hectares.

Conclusion: logging within the mapped area with potential and probable continuity forest means a high risk of degrading old-growth forest and destroying forest with conservation values. Our 500 examples in this report shows that SCA logs and plans to log many forests with conservation values and that the statistics in this report provides additional data that reinforces that the loggings are systematic.

Note! Furthermore, older forest stands and continuity forest that cannot be classified as ”old-growth” may have both conservation and restoration values and should not be felled. In order to reach national environmental targets and international conventions regarding biodiversity, nature restoration and climate mitigation, there is no room to harvest biomass from continuity forests in Sweden.

SCA IN MEDIA

The following articles are a just small sample of the negative media coverage that SCA has been given in recent years. These articles only address environmental issues related to forestry, but over the years there has also been a steady stream of news reports on financial scandals, such as corruption, bribery and tax evasion.

Disclaimer

The data collected for the list of 500 examples was gathered using field-inventory reports, published reports from NGOs, open GIS-data, species findings and media publications. The oldest report dates back to 1999, but the bulk of the forests were logged or notified between 2010 and 2024. The data has been verified through the best available open GISinformation and satellite images. Data on surface areas and dates are either taken from the final felling notification or measured from aerial or satellite imagery. The accuracy of actual hectares and year might therefore vary.

Species findings are taken from SLU Artdatabanken, an open database run by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Presented species lists for logged objects might include findings which have been left within consideration patches or buffer zones, so the list should be seen as what species were found in an intact ecosystem before logging.

Some areas have been logged in the guise of nature conservation management, but in these cases the large amount of trees harvested is totally unjustified from an ecological perspective. Extracting wood from protected or voluntarily set-aside forests is not acceptable, as dead wood is a key factor for forest biodiversity.

The list contains three categories of forests; logged, notified and withdrawn. The data collection and verification was conducted from the beginning of 2024 until September and has not been systematically monitored or updated. During this time, notified forests may have been logged or logging notifications withdrawn. Many of the more recent notifications have either been appealed to the environmental courts or are being processed by supervisory authorities.

A full list of coordinates for each forest will be available for downloading at skyddaskogen.se. For most areas, photographs and more information is available upon demand. If you find any errors or have any inquiries please contact: info@skyddaskogen.se

Dictionary

Below is a dictionary where we clarify some forestry terms.

More info, sources and sample collection:

Here you will find more information about how certified forestry logs forests with conservation value and about the Swedish model of forest management, and the negative effects it brings:

The Report is produced by Protect the Forest Sweden

YEAR: 2024
AUTHORS: Daniel Rutschman & Viktor Säfve
FACT-CHECKING, RESEARCH AND OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE REPORT: Jon Andersson & David Johansson
THE 500-LIST RESEARCH AND COMPILATION: Daniel Rutschman
ANALYSIS OF LOGGING NOTIFICATIONS: Jon Andersson, Forest Monitor (Skogsmonitor.se)
GRAPHICS: Jon Andersson & Daniel Rutschman
LAYOUT: David Johansson
PHOTO CREDITS: Next to each image.

A special thanks to all the people who have contributed with inventory reports from threatened and unprotected forests. Thousands of hours of voluntary work is behind the data presented in the 500-list.