The number of natural forests is decreasing - up to 15 percent left

Despite the fact that the forests are spreading over large parts of our elongated country, there is a shortage of fellable forest.

A tree is considered mature to be felled only when it is around 70-80 years old, depending on where in the country it grows and what kind of tree it is. 

The forest is one of Sweden's most important raw materials, but according to a forecast from the Swedish Forest Agency, the mature forest has declined rapidly since the 1960s, and it will continue to decline in the coming decades.

The trees that the companies plant after felling have simply not had time to grow to a sufficient extent to replace the felling. 

Demand for forest products is increasing 

In order to meet a steadily increasing demand for forest products, the forest industry therefore continues to harvest even in our natural forests, ie the forests that have been allowed to grow naturally and have never been cleared and replanted.

Today, only 10-15 percent of the forest in Sweden is natural forest.  

- It's a disaster for the forest.

Not for every single tree, of course, but for the forest as an ecosystem, says Sebastian Krippu.

He is a forest biologist and fights to protect more forests in Sweden.

Forest biologist Sebastian Kirppu: "Planted trees are not a forest"

"A timber field is not a forest" 

- A planted forest is a timber field.

It is not a forest and can never replace the natural forests, he says. 

But people who support the forest industry's line - that Swedish forestry works well with today's fellings and tree plantings - do not agree that the biology of the Swedish forest would be threatened.

- That concern is due to the fact that you want a certain kind of biodiversity, says Tomas Lundmark, professor at the Department of Forest Ecology and Management at SLU, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

"Planted forest also rich in species"

Tomas Lundmark claims that the cultivated forest, ie the forest that is felled and replaced by planted forest, also gets a biological diversity when it grows up. 

- It's just that there will be another biodiversity in the used forest, he says.   

See the whole world of Science "The battle for the forest - Natural forest or turbo forest?"

Monday 20 September at 20.00 on SVT2 or already now on SVT Play

.