The warning was published in one of the world’s heaviest scientific journals, Science.
Gives many examples
Guillaume Chapron gives several examples of situations where Sweden has, during the last decade, gone against EU laws by finding loopholes or changing them. It concerns, among other things, the wolf policy and the Swedish forestry with large clear-cuts.
– You could say a little cynically that it is a form of Swedish invention, to find all possible loopholes to avoid complying with the EU’s laws on biodiversity, says Guillaume Chapron.
Guillaume Chapron believes that Sweden’s high reputation in environmental matters is not in line with the truth, rather the opposite.
– Sweden has a good reputation abroad. My interpretation is actually that this good reputation is used as a cover for not acting in line with it, because Sweden knows that it is unlikely to be met with a backlash, says Guillaume Chapron.
The EU’s new legislative proposal
This summer, the EU Commission came up with a bill under the name “Nature restoration law”. According to the proposal, EU countries would have binding targets for restoring damaged ecosystems. The proposal has been praised by a number of different environmental organisations, including WWF, EEB and ClientEarth.
– The Restoration Act is a great opportunity to get nature to recover before the environmental and biodiversity crisis ends up completely beyond our control, says Sabien Leemans who works at WWF.
Increased Swedish influence
At the beginning of next year, Sweden will take over the EU’s rotating presidency. According to Guillaume Chapron, it will give Sweden increased political influence, which risks slowing down or weakening the implementation of the new law.
– With Sweden in the driver’s seat, it is unlikely that anything good will happen for biodiversity, he believes.
Sveriges Television has asked Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari for a comment.
Play the video to hear the researcher make his critique.