It is, among other things, with the help of artificial intelligence that the database has now been created and through a comprehensive compilation of natural value inventories in the country.
- We have used all the inventories available in Sweden, and it is perhaps half a million, says Professor Per Angelstam at SLU.
All data has since been analyzed and the database now shows nature values, hectare by hectare, for the whole of Sweden.
- What the database shows is a ranking for each hectare square, from very low natural values to high, says Per Angelstam.
The database shows that today there are only large contiguous forest areas with high natural values that have never been cleared – natural forests and old forests – along the mountain chain.
First of its kind in the country
The purpose is to provide an overview of the forests' natural values, to know where the forests worth protecting are located and where nature conservation efforts should be made.
It is the lack of knowledge about natural values in the forest that is the background to the development of the database.
It is the first of its kind in the country.
- There has been no comprehensive picture of the natural values in the whole country, until now, with this database, says Per Angelstam.
Not clear who can use the forest database
- But this must be supplemented with inventories out in the field, for example in cases where landowners must be replaced when forests with high natural values are protected.
The database was created with funding from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.
It was completed this summer and is so new that the final report on it is currently being written.
Decisions about how it will be used and who will have access to it will be decided later.
See where the forests worthy of protection are located in the county in the video above.