Logged trees with high biodiversity value. This pile of giant trees is not photographed in the rainforest; it is taken at an FSC-certified sawmill in Örebro County, Sweden, during a weekend course about the old-growth forest. Trees like these should not be logged and FSC-certified (environmentally labelled) forest companies should not trade with these trees. Photo © Olli Manninen/Protect the Forest 2009.

Sweden is considered to be a good actor when it comes to sustainable forestry. This is starkly contrasted by the fact that Sweden has never had as little natural old-growth forests as today. At the same time, the logging of old-growth forests and other high conservation value forests continues. Forest management measures are, over and over again, taken with insufficient environmental consideration. Despite knowledge and efforts regarding nature conservation being a part of the forestry the last decade, the loss of valuable forest habitats and biodiversity continues. Sweden is far from fulfilling its commitments under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. The Swedish forestry has to improve its practices and take much better environmental consideration measures to water and soil. More than half of the land area in Sweden is covered by forests. Where natural forests once dominated, are now plantations and managed production forests in different age stages after conducted clear-cuttings. There is too little variation, too little coarse, old and dead trees and too few deciduous trees. Although, Sweden has a considerable proportion of the remaining old-growth forests in Western Europe. Forests that must be protected. This gallery presents a collection of illustrative photo examples from the impoverishment of the forest landscape. It shows scandal loggings and the reality, which often encounters local people, non-profit nature conservationists and outdoor people in the Swedish forests. All photos are taken by non-profit conservationists from Swedish environmental organizations or during the Research field-trip to the outskirts of Nature Conservation.