Response to interpellation 2024/25:427 on the future of forestry
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the future of forestry and its role for climate and competitiveness. KD believes that the forest is a strategic resource where active forestry with high growth provides the greatest climate benefit 1 2. KD emphasizes the idea of stewardship for future generations 2, that forest owners have great freedom 2 and that ownership rights should be guiding when compensation for restrictions is provided 3. KD argues that the literal investigation regarding species protection allows for faster decisions 4. S expresses concern over reduced growth, stopped sawmills and increasing levels of conflict 5. S believes that the species protection investigation is taking place without transparency 6 and wants more dialogue, research and cooperation 5 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Madam Speaker! Malin Larsson has asked me how the work regarding the investigations concerning the forest will proceed moving forward, when we can expect finished proposals, and how I intend to act for a sustainable and long-term forest policy.
Madam Speaker! The forest and Swedish forestry are a strategic resource for both the climate and Swedish competitiveness. A sustainable forest policy must simultaneously be able to reconcile competitive economic conditions with good environmental consideration. Sufficient access to biomass is necessary for us to be able to realize a shift away from fossil materials and fuels. The Government therefore assesses that active forestry with high growth and the use of products from renewable raw materials provides the greatest long-term climate benefit.
The Government has appointed an inquiry to carry out a review of the national forest policy given the developments since the forest policy reform of 1993, including the policy developments within the EU, as well as to consider measures for a long-term sustainable and competitive forestry that strengthens freedom of enterprise and the willingness to invest. The assignment also includes providing proposals for an efficient, simple, and well-functioning supervision of forestry and more effective environmental goal work in the forest. The purpose is to develop a future-oriented and purposeful forest policy that promotes a long-term sustainable and competitive forestry, increased forest growth, and a long-term increased supply of sustainable forest biomass in order to be able to fully contribute to the climate transition as well as jobs and growth throughout the country. The equal forest policy goals – the environmental goal and the production goal – shall remain unchanged.
The investigation presented its partial report A Clear Regulatory Framework for Active Forestry (SOU 2024:91) in December 2024. The final report shall be presented by August 31, 2025, at the latest.
Madam Speaker! The Government considers that there are problems with the current design and application of the species protection rules. The process for the landowner to receive the compensation to which he or she is entitled is both unpredictable and time-consuming. In August 2024, a so-called letter-of-the-law investigator was commissioned to submit proposals for new regulations regarding national protection and a regulatory framework for the right to compensation for landowners in the event of restrictions due to protection provisions for both nationally and European protected species.
The Environmental Goals Commission submitted its partial report on 14 February proposing a strategy with milestone goals, steering instruments, and measures that contribute to Sweden's commitments within the EU and internationally for nature conservation and biodiversity as well as uptake and emissions of greenhouse gases within the land use sector, LULUCF.
The preparation of the above-mentioned documents and questions is ongoing in the Government Offices, and as of today, I cannot provide an exact timetable for the collective work. It is the government's intention to return with clear proposals for a future purposeful forest policy.
Malin Larsson (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you to the Minister for the answer!
When we debate forest and forestry here in the chamber, we usually highlight the forest as our green gold that has built our country, and so it is. But what is important now is how we moving forward take advantage of the opportunities that the forest actually provides.
Here in Sweden, we are fortunate to have a lot of forest. Our country consists of 70 percent forest. The growing and well-managed forest binds carbon dioxide and contributes products that can replace fossil ones. The balanced goals between nature conservation and forestry have led to a fantastic development of our forestry.
For the first time in a hundred years, however, new statistics from the National Forest Inventory show a reduced growth in the forest. We also see more and more sawmills stopping their production and activists out in the forests blocking forestry machines from performing the forestry they are there for. We also see again an unusually mild winter that causes challenges for the forest and forestry.
It naturally causes concern in me when the forest grows less, when sawmill workers risk losing their jobs, when the level of conflict escalates, and when climate change affects our forest to an ever greater extent, because it risks having major consequences both for the economy and for Sweden's opportunities to reach the climate goals.
It is pleasing that interest in the forest has increased increasingly, but it has also contributed to goal conflicts. Therefore, areas for cooperation were needed where knowledge and experiences can be shared. If the role of forestry is to be strengthened and the forest's role promoted in a growing bioeconomy, knowledge, broad solutions, innovation, long-term perspective, and cooperation are needed. It is a balance between use and preservation, different interests and different considerations. Many are those who are affected. It is about jobs and economy, but often it is the individual forest owner who has cared for their forest for generations who gets squeezed.
Forest policy is not quarterly politics. Every forest owner knows that forest policy is about long-term perspective so that forest owners know what the rules of the game are as far into the future as possible. That is also why the commitment from us in the opposition is great in these issues.
The level of conflict and polarization that we see regarding the forest today serves no one. We need a sustainable and long-term forest policy, and therefore I want to ask the Minister how he intends to act to reduce the level of conflict that we see regarding forest issues today.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Madam Speaker! For the first point, the government is clear that the protection of property rights shall be guiding in matters of compensation for restrictions on forestry resulting from species protection. Among other things, that is why the government has initiated the aforementioned letter investigation, which is now in its final phase. Also, the forestry policy investigation, in its partial report, proposes a general right to compensation for forest owners who, for natural reasons, are affected by restrictions in their management, in addition to the responsibility and the environmental considerations that already rest with the forest owner according to the Forestry Act.
Both the work currently being done within the Government Offices and the proposals already presented by the forest investigation are intended to strengthen both property rights and incentives for active nature conservation. The literal investigation's task is not only to ensure that forest owners receive the compensation they are entitled to, but the investigation also includes reviewing the regulatory framework surrounding nationally protected species.
As I emphasized initially, forest and forestry is an immensely strategic resource for both climate and competitiveness, and we need to increase the availability of biomass while simultaneously safeguarding our biodiversity. It is precisely what we are trying to achieve through the various investigations and the political new start that the government is now taking regarding forest policy, for it can only be stated that it has been a sliding scale for far too long. There have been too many uncertainties in forest policy and in the regulatory framework we have and how it has been applied.
I therefore very much look forward to us getting all these investigations in place so that we can take a proper hold and map out a direction that, of course, like the forest, shall be long-term. I hope for a continued good dialogue in the chamber regarding this.
Malin Larsson (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you to the Minister for the answers so far! The concern continues to gnaw at me, however, and it concerns above all the species protection, which the Minister also touched upon in his answer.
Forest owners continue to receive letters from the Swedish Forest Agency after logging notifications containing information about protected plants and birds that may be affected by forestry measures. They cannot fell their forest, and they receive no compensation. This uncertainty, which is not solely a consequence of Swedish legislation but is also influenced by new court cases interpreting EU rules, creates challenges for forest owners and authorities. Protected species have been a highly topical issue ever since these judgments created the new order we have for the forest today.
The government chose here to handle the questions regarding species protection in a so-called letter investigation at the ministry. It is an investigation that takes place in secret, where we in the opposition have no insight and cannot get answers to our questions. Nor can organizations or media seeking answers. When we asked why everything concerning the forest was not handled in a single investigation, i.e., that the species protection issues should also be included in the forest investigation, we were told that it was urgent and that they therefore separated the species protection and handled it in a letter investigation.
However, they waited for one and a half years before appointing this letter investigation, and since then it has not been completed within the allotted time. It was supposed to be finished by the turn of the year, but I do not know if it is finished yet.
Several members have at various times here in the chamber asked what is happening with the Arts Protection Inquiry. It is not only us from the opposition, but also members from the minister's own party wonder the same thing: Why is nothing happening? Why is the government delaying a decision in this important issue, which was, after all, so urgent?
The last answer was that the species protection investigation was not finished yet – the investigation that was in a hurry and which was therefore not combined with the forest investigation. Now it has been three months since it was supposed to be finished. What is happening, we do not know.
Another concern I have linked to this concerns how they intend to manage the birds. In another interpellation regarding the forest and species protection here in the chamber recently, one could interpret the answer from the Minister for Climate and Environment as that the government intends to manage that issue by paying for the areas where birds hinder forestry. I see an enormous risk that there will be large areas of land in Sweden that will not be able to be cultivated and which instead will cost large amounts in compensations.
We Social Democrats would have liked to see the whole picture being handled. We would also have liked to be more involved in the investigations, precisely to achieve long-term perspective and consensus, keep the dialogue alive and bounce these questions around. But now we are where we are. I wonder where this has stalled and why the government is not delivering on the most important and most urgent issue regarding species protection for our forest owners. Who will take responsibility for the whole picture regarding all the investigations that have taken place regarding the forestry issues? There is a lot in the works and also a lot that has been delivered. But the whole picture, who takes responsibility for it?
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Madam Speaker! I would like to begin by expressing my joy over the commitment to the forest. I believe it bodes well for future stability in an important and long-term issue such as the Swedish forest and Swedish forestry.
Just as the member previously mentioned, forestry is an undertaking that almost always extends across generations. Today's generation of forest owners is not only planning for their children but also for their children's children – their own grandchildren – and so on.
I am very proud of the forest owners across the country and the enormous diversity that we see in the Swedish forests. It is about slightly different management models and a great sense of responsibility in important areas where one saves for environmental reasons or for reasons of affection, for example. That makes it so that we have a forest landscape with great diversity. It comes from ownership. I want to return to that. The Government takes the ownership right as extremely important when we tackle these issues.
But the forest area is not without challenges. As was mentioned, there are national rules but also EU rules which, even though forestry is not an EU competence, many times step into national policy and dictate the conditions. We have tried to work actively with this and have also achieved some success at the EU level.
Moving forward, it is a matter of maintaining a high pace and, above all, getting these investigations in place. The different perspectives need to be reconciled, and when that is done, proposals will indeed be presented to the Riksdag. I look forward to the dialogue that we can then have.
The arts protection investigation is a letter-by-letter investigation, which is handled somewhat differently compared to a regular SOU. The process therefore becomes somewhat more internal. I maintain that our way of setting this up means that we will reach a common decision faster. We are moving forward on several fronts simultaneously.
The Forest Investigation has indeed presented a partial report, but the final report will not be ready until August. It is a rather large and extensive investigation. The species protection investigation will not continue for that long.
Malin Larsson (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you to the Minister for the answers! But I can state that the Minister is somewhat avoiding answering my questions. I can interpret it as that the species protection investigation will in any case be delivered before August, but what happens with the birds I did not hear.
I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the importance of research linked to the forest. Against the background of the level of conflict we actually see and the polarized public debate linked to the forest, science is more important than ever. We need to have the right facts – and the same facts – on the table.
The forest has built our country, as I mentioned. But what opportunities are there in the forest moving forward? Research is also incredibly important there. How can we create even more value from every tree? I believe that the forest debate would benefit from more dialogue, not less.
Furthermore, it is always good to meet on-site in the forest when discussing forestry, species protection, and other forestry issues, and to learn together. Then one can see how forestry is carried out, what considerations are taken, which species live there, and so on. We have many knowledgeable forest owners, forest workers, and contractors who possess an incredibly long experience here in our country. The competence supply within the forestry industry and the forestry research will be important for us as a country moving forward.
From the research proposal, however, my concern is raised once again, as the government chooses to invest in excellent research at a few large universities. This means that research at smaller universities in the forest counties risks being affected. How does the Minister view the importance of forestry research throughout the country?
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Madam Speaker! My priority is to design a forest policy based on the concept of stewardship. Stewardship does not mean simply leaving something there, but actively caring for something with a focus on being able to pass it on to future generations. An active forestry with high growth and the use of products from renewable raw materials is judged to be the highest long-term climate benefit.
Renewable raw materials from the forest were needed to replace fossil-intensive resources both in Sweden and in other countries. To increase the forest's climate benefit, both for substitution and for increased net uptake, measures for increased growth, good forest health, and a growing circular bioeconomy are judged to be needed.
As a forest owner, one has great freedom to choose how one wants to manage their forest, which guarantees great variation in the forests. That is good. Logging takes place based on the forest owner's needs and plans, given the opportunities and frameworks provided by our national legislation.
It is my hope that the extensive investigation work currently underway will result in many good proposals that the government can take forward with the aim of creating a purposeful forest policy for the future.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.