The Swedish Forest Agency is the supervisory authority that must check that laws and regulations are complied with in accordance with the Forest Conservation Act and the Environmental Code, including with regard to species protection.
In 2020, the authority received 66,674 notifications of felling from forest owners and forest companies, of which 63,973 were rejuvenation fellings.
Rejuvenation felling means felling the trees in an older stand.
It is a criticized forestry method, where only a few trees are left.
"Unprotected forest will disappear"
From the time the report is received by the Swedish Forest Agency, the authority has six weeks to check and act.
According to the environmental organization Protect the forest, therefore, many felling reports that should be stopped slip.
- There are very many fellings that just fall through the system, says Lina Burnelius, project manager and international coordinator at Protect the forest.
- If we continue on the paved track, in principle all unprotected forest outside protected areas and reserves will be gone within a maximum of two decades.
Starting position not to stop
Of the nearly 67,000 reports of felling received last year, the Swedish Forest Agency made just under 2,500 field visits before felling - and intervened and stopped felling in 508 cases.
At the same time, the starting point is that the supervisory authority must assume that felling is permitted.
- The legislation and policy is such that the landowner can fell his forest.
It is not a starting point that we should stop, we should check that they are carried out in accordance with current legislation, says Herman Sundqvist, Director General of the Swedish Forest Agency.