[ad_1]
About 400 professors, researchers and students have signed a petition to prevent the logging of a forest area that belongs to and is administered by Uppsala University.
“The high-profile deforestation that the Academy Administration is now planning within the nature reserve risks damaging UU’s reputation and commitment to environmental issues and sustainable development,” it says in the appeal it has previously noted. Upsala Nya Tidning.
Göran Arnqvist, a professor of zooecology, is one of the promoters of the protests against the university’s logging plans.
Photo: Alexander Mahmoud
Göran Arnqvist is professor of zooecology in college and one of the initiators:
– There is a tension between the vision of the forest as a producer of economic values and the vision of it as an invaluable and sensitive habitat for a diversity of species. In other words, a producer of ecological values, he says.
– Our universities tend to have a very high moral profile. But what does it look like in practice then? When it comes to economic interests at stake.
There is a great demand for Swedish forests. In addition to the classic industrial use for wood production, the forest must be sufficient for the so-called biofuel for several different sectors. In addition, trees and other land must remain to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and the loss of biodiversity must be curbed, in accordance with Sweden’s international commitments.
Like climate change the loss of biodiversity is part of a larger sustainability crisis that has its roots in man’s relationship with nature. When we use larger and larger lands for, among other things, forestry and agriculture, the habitats of other species change and are destroyed.
“Right now we are moving towards the systematic eradication of all non-human life,” said Anne Larigauderie, director of the UN Panel on Biological Diversity, in September.
In the area there are, for example, green thyme moss and cinnober beetle that are protected by the Species Protection Act.
Photo: Alexander Mahmoud
Through the Uppsala University Administration company, Uppsala University manages 53,980 hectares of forest land with a total value of more than SEK 2.5 billion. The manager describes the operation on his website as “a long-term and ecological forestry with sustainable profitability”. And he further writes: “Our operational objective is to provide the best conditions for good direct yield and long-term increase in the value of forest properties through active forest management with the right tree species.”
The areas that are now threatened by logging are in the Hågadalen-Nåsten nature reserve, near the city, and are frequently used as a recreation area.
– We are many researchers and professors at Uppsala University who are good at this with biodiversity and we are actually leading experts at the international level. And for us this will be difficult, says Göran Arnqvist.
– Because existing directives on maximum yields are not always compatible with high environmental considerations. And the money that benefits the university and us, runs the risk of becoming blood money. We just don’t want bloody money.
Photo: Alexander Mahmoud
It involves a clearing of between five and eight hectares of land, in a reserve of 1,800 hectares. Will it make a difference?
– It’s still a big cut, a big cut. The administration does not violate any reserve regulations, saying that in this area “conventional forestry can be done.” But, of course, it doesn’t say it “should” happen. This is how we want to say that the university must intervene as an actor and give the administration very clear directives so that logging does not occur.
Uppsala University says it has big ambitions for sustainability and biodiversity. Some of the world’s leading experts in the field work in universities. Recently, in November, the university signed a “sustainability pledge” in which the chancellor Eva Åkesson emphasized the university’s mission to contribute to “research and education that increases knowledge and contributes to the understanding of sustainability in all its complexity”.
Eva Åkesson tells DN that she, as rector, has no mandate to make logging decisions on university grounds. However, he has a seat on the Academy board, which has the power to decide the matter.
– I think the Academy administration works well with sustainability issues and really takes them very seriously. When we look at this specific issue, I have asked that we be allowed to raise it on both the administrative board and the college board so that we can properly discuss it. This is an issue that involves many employees and students and then we will take it very seriously.
Logging won’t begin until the board has discussed the issue, promises director Eva Åkesson. The next meeting is December 17th.
– Meanwhile, the chainsaws are not turned on, says Eva Åkesson.
Göran Arnqvist, professor of zooecology at Uppsala University.
Photo: Alexander Mahmoud
Universities have other important assets that are managed with ethical considerations, such as saving funds. How do you see the ethical aspect of forestry?
– Now I must admit that I do not know forestry in detail. But I think it is incredibly important for the Academy administration to work with sustainability issues and ethical issues regarding placements and administrations, and we have worked intensively on this in recent years on the board.
Researchers and students at Uppsala University call this financial return from university forestry “blood money.” What is your reaction to that?
– I can’t answer that. I must, like all members, take time and make this present in a good light and that is why I have asked to appear on both forums here. And now we will work with this.
Sven Kihlström, responsible administrator for the Swedish Forestry Agency, says that discussions on the logging area are currently taking place between the authority, the County Administrative Board and the Academy Administration.
– In parts of this area, there are both green shield moss and cinnabar beetle that have a protection in the species protection ordinance. So it’s important to make sure the species are protected so they can live in the area, he says.
There are also other natural values in the area that the Swedish Forestry Agency believes should be protected, but also parts that can be harvested without affecting biodiversity.
