Response to interpellation 2025/26:49 on Finnskogen as a World Heritage site
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 possibility of proposing Värmland's Finnskogen as a new World Heritage site according to UNESCO's convention. M argues that Sweden should be restrictive in nominating new World Heritage sites to ensure sustainable management and funding 1 2 3. M emphasizes that it does not diminish the area's values if it is not nominated 2 and that they share the commitment to preserving culturally and historically important environments 4. SD argues that Finnskogen is a unique tangible and intangible cultural heritage with unique buildings and folklore 5 6 7. SD believes that the government should work for the nomination when the application is submitted in order to preserve the heritage and promote the tourism industry 5 6 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.
Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)
Mr. Speaker! Runar Filper has asked me if I see the value in and the possibility of proposing Värmland's boreal forest as a new World Heritage site according to UNESCO's World Heritage Convention and if I intend to take any actions based on my view on the matter.
The work with the World Heritage sites involves many actors. It is the Swedish National Heritage Board that has the overall responsibility for the application in Sweden of UNESCO's Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage and for the coordination of the national World Heritage work. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has the responsibility for those World Heritage sites that are natural heritage. At the regional level, the county administrative boards, among others, are responsible for issues regarding the cultural and natural environment, which can also include World Heritage sites. The World Heritage sites are owned and managed by both private and public actors.
The very basis for Sweden's work with the World Heritage sites during the period 2020–2030 is the national World Heritage strategy. It has been developed by the Swedish National Heritage Board on the government's assignment and in cooperation with relevant authorities, municipalities, and various actors in the World Heritage work. The strategy contains, among other things, a vision and overall goals for the actors in the World Heritage work, clarification of responsibilities and roles, as well as areas for development.
It appears from the strategy that Sweden shall be restrictive in nominating more World Heritage sites. This is wise. A World Heritage designation is naturally very honorable but also comes with a great responsibility and requirements for management and financing. It is ultimately the Swedish government that is responsible to Unesco regarding the management of the World Heritage sites, even though the ownership of the World Heritage sites may look different. The government's restrictiveness is therefore justified.
It is also the case that Riksantikvarieämbetet's overall responsibility for the application of the UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage includes submitting proposals for new world heritage sites for the government to nominate to UNESCO. No such proposal from Riksantikvarieämbetet exists when it comes to Värmland's finnskog.
It is my assessment that the current strategy, particularly regarding the issue of nominating new World Heritage sites, contributes to securing a sustainable and long-term management of Sweden's World Heritage. It also strengthens Sweden's legitimacy in the work with the convention.
Runar Filper (SD)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for Culture for the answer.
Just as I have stated in the interpellation, I am aware that there is no proposal for a World Heritage nomination from the Swedish National Heritage Board regarding Värmland's finnskog. But, as I have also stated in the interpellation, a project to realize this is in the starting stages. It has been initiated by a number of county actors in Värmland who want to take this unique cultural environment to heart and give it the strongest protection against destruction and decay.
The work is being conducted as a project with funding from Länsstyrelsen i Värmland, Region Värmland, Torsby kommun, Helmiastiftelsen, among others who want Finnskogen to become a World Heritage site. Värmlands Museum and Torsby Finnskogscentrum are hosts for the project. The work began in earnest in the autumn of 2018. It usually takes approximately 10–15 years for an application to go through if it has everything that is required.
Finnskogen with its Finnish farms and smoke cottages in Värmland County is the largest continuous area in the country with old Finnish settlements and place names. Entire parishes have been founded by the Finnish settlers. The area has a rich history with roots in the Finnish immigration in the 1600s. These Finnish settlers brought with them their knowledge of slash-and-burn farming and lived in harmony with the forest, which has shaped the landscape and the culture in the region.
In Torsby municipality, in particular, there are many Finnish farms and traditional smokehouses preserved, several of which are in their original locations. Nowhere else are there so many remaining in their original locations. There, one gains an insight into how the Finnish settlers lived. The smokehouses are typical of forest-Finnish architecture and represent an important part of the area's cultural heritage. Not even in Finland are there any smokehouses preserved in their original locations, but only on local heritage farms.
A smoke cottage is a building without a chimney where it is the smoke from the fireplace that warms up the cottage. On the Finnish farms, one can experience the unique building tradition that the Finns brought with them to Sweden. The smoke lay just above one's heads, and it was therefore that which warmed up the cottage. When the smoke came too far down, one simply opened a hatch in the ceiling. When you enter the Finnish farms, you see that they are completely black at the top and light at the bottom.
The Skogsfinns also brought their own food culture with them. Dishes such as motti, silppu, hillo, and peppo can still be found in northern Värmland. In Sunne, one can order motti at a restaurant.
I firmly invoke the unique cultural value and that the government takes this into account by informing Unesco about the cultural value that the unique contiguous area with the smoke huts remaining in their original location constitutes. This, together with the reindeer, the sauna, and the forest Finns' folk belief, is a cultural heritage both tangible and intangible.
Not least from a regional perspective, it would be desirable that the government contributes to a development that would promote the tourism industry and local business.
Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)
Mr. Speaker! I thank Member Filper for the fantastic description of the places and the cottages.
I believe there is a consensus among Sweden's UNESCO actors regarding the Swedish position on restrictiveness in the nomination of new World Heritage sites. As I have mentioned previously, it is the Swedish National Heritage Board that holds the work together and has the mandate from the government to apply it and the World Heritage Convention.
I still want to say that we have many fantastic places all around Sweden, and there are many ways to highlight these places. When it comes specifically to Värmland's Finnish forest, we must absolutely be clear that it does not diminish the area's values that it has not been nominated as a World Heritage site.
Runar Filper (SD)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for Culture for the answer.
Let me say something about forest Finnish folklore. Towards the end of the 1500s, a wave of population migration began within the then Sweden, which also included Finland at that time. Sweden and Finland were a nation. Duke Karl offered six tax-free years for those who settled in the desolate central Swedish forests, and they had the opportunity to claim their own land area.
From these areas, previously missing pieces to complement the Finnish national epic Kalevala have been found with the help of interviews. Linguists have also studied the archaic Savola dialect, which had been extinct in Finland for several hundred years but survived in Värmland's isolated Finnish forests until the end of the 60s when the last Finnish speaker passed away.
The stories from the Finnish forests are fascinating to take part in. The forest Finns had a folk belief completely unknown to the Swedish population, with their own mythology of nature spirits and the practice of incantations. The Swedish population considered that they had magical powers and were sorcerous, which led to them keeping their distance from the Finnish population. They were a little afraid of them.
There is much to say about this mythical area and the people who inhabited the vast forest. It is a unique intangible cultural heritage.
Many Finnish names still remain on farms and places in the forests on both sides of the border. The last Finnish-speaking area was northern Värmland where Niitaho-Jussi of the Oinoinen family lived; called the last wanderer of the Finnish forest. He died in 1965. During his lifetime, he traveled to Finland and received the Order of the Lion of Finland from President Urho Kekkonen, as a symbol for the last 15 who were still Finnish-speaking in Värmland's Finnish wilderness.
Here lived Kaisa Vilhuinen – the last sierska of the Finnish forest who knew many Finnish songs and stories. She was knowledgeable in traditional healing and herbal medicine, and she was skilled in the incantations and wisdom of olden days. Yes, she possessed such fantastic knowledge of old Finland that folklore and language researchers traveled all the way from Finland to her cottage in Jussintorpa. They were able to take part in unknown parts that complemented Kalevala. After her, the Swedish-Finnish literary prize Kaisa Vilhuinen-priset has been named.
Here lived the wizard Päger. And here lived the feared Ivana-Julia in the Finnish forest, who was considered to have magical knowledge and who it was believed could bring death and misfortune upon people.
All this with rituals, incantations, rune songs, seers, and sorcerers qualifies this desolate and high-altitude region with its storytelling tradition to be an intangible cultural heritage. Work has been underway, as mentioned, for a number of years for Finnskogen to become a world heritage site to be included on UNESCO's World Heritage List. When that application reaches the government, it is truly appropriate to work to ensure that it happens. Finnskogen with its culture and its typical buildings is so special in many ways, as I have described here, that the heritage is worth preserving for the future by having more people gain knowledge of and interest in this important part of both Värmland and Swedish cultural history. All this unique Finnish culture qualifies as both tangible and intangible world heritage. The government should take the content of this debate into consideration in a future assessment.
Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)
Mr. Speaker! I thank you again for these wonderful stories that we all carry with us and which are part of all of Sweden's and our cultural heritage.
It is my and the government's assessment that the current strategy for the work with the World Heritage sites, in particular regarding Sweden having a restrictive stance on new nominations, contributes to ensuring a long-term and sustainable management of Sweden's World Heritage. It strengthens Sweden's legitimacy in the work with the convention. Nevertheless, it should not obscure the fact that there are many places around in our country that are fantastic and carry a rich and proud cultural history and intangible values that we all place great value on.
Runar Filper (SD)
Mr. Speaker! I thank you again for the answer, Parisa.
All these rituals, incantations, rune chants, seers, sorcerers and storytelling traditions make this desolate and highland region qualify to be designated as an intangible cultural heritage.
We have the Finnish folk life researcher Carl Axel Gottlund to thank for much of the knowledge about Finnish clans and old customs and practices in the forest. It is thanks to his very detailed diaries from his travels in Värmland's Finnish forest during the years 1821–1822.
Work is currently being done to have Finnskogen included on UNESCO's World Heritage List. For this reason, the government should work to ensure that this happens. This opportunity must not pass us by the day the application arrives from the Värmland county actors. Finnskogen, with its culture and typical buildings, is so unique and special in many ways, and the heritage is worth preserving for the future. By having this included on the World Heritage List, greater weight is also given to the significance of this unique area on both sides of the Swedish-Norwegian border. Finnskogen has no borders, as it continues into Norway, into the home regions of Solør and Finnmark.
Now the minister has acquired some Finnish forest knowledge and perhaps a new destination to visit. Do not miss the national dish of the Finnish forest: motti, kröser, and pork. Pour on some möe flôt, otherwise it will be dry!
Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)
Mr. Speaker! It sounds quite clearly as if a visit should be imminent.
It is incredibly fine to see the member's commitment, and I believe that we fundamentally share the commitment to the need to preserve culturally and historically important environments. We need to pay attention to them and talk about how we best protect these important areas, not least the forest Finnish cultural and agricultural landscapes.
Since then, we have had somewhat different approaches there, but fundamentally we have a shared commitment – even if the paths there may look a bit different and the protection may look different depending on which role one takes.
It has been a fine interpellation and debate that has highlighted the importance of our culturally and historically significant environments in Sweden. They have a unique value that we all need to take responsibility for protecting and preserving for future generations.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.