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170 scientists demand protection of old-growth forests Print
In an appeal, initiated by the Swedish organization Protect the Forest, more than 170 scientists demand that the Swedish Government act and protect old-growth forests and other forests with high conservation values in Sweden, before it is too late. The appeal is supported by 19 organizations and thousands of individuals, including members of the Swedish Parliament and cultural celebrities. At a press conference in Stockholm today, the appeal will be delivered to the Government and the opposition parties.
The action proposals in the appeal are stated during 2010, UN’s International Year of Biodiversity. This is the year when the Swedish environmental objective, Sustainable Forests, should be achieved and a new interim target for long-term protection of forest land should be adopted. Sweden is, however, far from achieving the objective of preserving biodiversity and a living forest landscape.

“Being one of the world's richest countries, Sweden can afford to preserve the last remaining natural forests,” said Sven G. Nilsson, Professor of Ecology at Lund University. “Also, extensive work is needed to restore conservation values in many forests, in order to be able to set aside 20 percent of the Swedish productive forest land for nature conservation.”

The Government is expected to present its environmental objective bill in the coming weeks, where the ambition regarding future forest protection will be described. There are strong concerns that it will not be
sufficient.

“We are now at a crossroads. Despite 20 years of forest policies in which the environmental and production objective should be of equal importance, forests with high conservation values are still being logged, forests that are required to achieve the environmental objective,” said Bengt Gunnar Jonsson, Professor of Plant Ecology at Mid Sweden University. “It is simply not possible to achieve the national environmental
objective, which states that all native plant and animal species should be safeguarded in viable populations, with only a few percent of the original forests remaining.”


Press contacts:

Sven G. Nilsson, Professor of Ecology, Lund University:
+46 (0)46 2224949, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Bengt-Gunnar Jonsson, Professor of Plant Ecology, Mid Sweden University:
+46 (0) 70 3307868, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Amanda Tas, Secretary, Protect the Forest:
+46 (0)76 7613533, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Viktor Säfve, Chairperson, Protect the Forest:
+46 (0)76 1148811, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Link to the press release:
http://www.protecttheforest.se/images/pr_protect%20the%20forest_appeal.pdf

Link to the appeal: http://www.protecttheforest.se/upprop/en