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The big forestry investigation, which was handed over to the government last week, is already having political consequences. In his KU report, Center Party spokesman on forestry issues, Peter Helander, refers directly to the analysis of research on how key biotope inventories have been used.
“Overall, it is clear that the scope of the concept has been broadened to affect constitutionally protected rights and freedoms entirely without legal support,” writes Peter Helander.
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The purpose of the key biotope inventories, carried out by the Swedish Forestry Agency, has been to gather knowledge on areas worthy of protection. However, they have created major conflicts because in practice they have prevented logging by forest owners. Wood buyers demand that the forest be environmentally certified, which excludes wood from key biotopes.
“Many individual forest owners have been hit hard by a lack of respect for the economic and non-profit values that have been lost,” writes Peter Helander.
In the KU app In particular, it points to a decision made by the government in 2018 on a new inventory at the national level. He wants KU to examine whether the government has failed in its control of the authorities. The then Minister of Rural Affairs Sven-Erik Bucht (S) and the Minister of the Environment Isabella Lövin (MP) were singled out as particularly responsible.
“Apart from the government’s decision on the registration of key biotopes in 2018 (which was withdrawn in 2019), the investigation has not found any formal support that can be considered to meet the requirements of the principle of legality,” the report states.
Inventories of key biotopes have been close to the heart of the Green Party. However, the January agreement indicated that they would not continue, which was a requirement of the Center. In a meeting with Riksdag reporters last fall, MP spokesman Per Bolund pointed to this as one of the things in the deal that had been the most difficult for MP to accept. The environmental movement also sees inventories as an important tool for conserving nature.
The Swedish Forestry Research writes in its report that “it has not been possible to find any explicit support in the legal system for the Swedish Forestry Agency to inventory the country’s forests for key biotopes.”
DN has requested Environment Minister Isabella Lövin, but declines to comment.
The text is updated.
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