It is from northern Dalarna to Norrbotten that the large continuous mountain forest belt stretches.
Because the forest is so continuous and large, it contains a unique diversity of ecosystems.
– It resists storm, it resists fire, it resists insect attacks. It has always looked the same and it lives and it thrives and it feels good, says Ulf von Sydow, chairman of the Nature Conservation Association in Jämtland-Härjedalen to Ekot.
In 2020, a state forest inquiry suggested that more than 500,000 hectares of the forest should be protected because it is so important. But instead, only a fifth of the forest has received a promised formal protection now shows Echo’s review.
Therefore, the forest is cut down
They have compared the Norwegian Forestry Agency’s satellite images of all fellings that have been done with maps of the forest that was proposed to be protected, and at least 6,300 hectares have been felled since the basis for the Forestry Investigation’s maps were produced.
– You chop up a thousand-year-old ecosystem, says Ulf von Sydow at the Nature Conservation Association.
Climate and Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari believes that the forest has been felled after the timber shortage that arose when Sweden no longer buys timber from Russia.
– But we work very actively to ensure that forest worthy of protection is not felled. We want to preserve forests worth protecting, and especially the forests near the mountains, she says.