Spared, shared and lost—routes for maintaining the Scandinavian Mountain foothill intact forest landscapes

Abstract

Intact forest landscapes harbor significant biodiversity values and pools of ecosystem services essential for conservation, land use and rural development. Threatened by fragmentation and loss by transitions to industrial clear-cut forestry, those landscapes are of pivotal interest for protection that secures their intact character. With wall-to-wall land-cover data, we explored opportunities for maintaining intact forest landscapes through comprehensive spatial planning across a 2.5 million hectares boreal to sub-alpine forest region along the eastern slopes of the Scandinavian Mountain range. We analyzed forest and woodland types that are protected, need protection or potentially can be subject to continued forest management. We established that the fraction of already clear-cut forest is very small and that the forest landscape of the Scandinavian Mountain foothills contains a high proportion of protected high conservation value forests, covering almost 2 million ha, and that over 500,000 ha (27%) remains unprotected and may be subject to future protection or continued adapted forest management. We found evident north to south differences with respect to forest landscape configuration, distribution of unprotected forests and land ownership. With a focus on non-industrial private landowners, we conclude that sustainable land-use requires integrative, multi-functional approaches that rely on further protection, forest and forest landscape restoration and a much larger share of continuous cover forestry than presently. Our results provide input into ongoing policy implementation and green infrastructure planning in the context of securing intact forest values and integrative opportunities for rural livelihood and regional development based on multiple value chains.

Challenges and Solutions for Forest Biodiversity Conservation in Sweden: Assessment of Policy, Implementation Outputs, and Consequences

“…The sub-alpine mountain forest region's forests and woodlands along the Scandinavian mountain range covers ca. 3.5 million ha, of which 1.5 million ha counts as productive [68,148]. According to Naturvårdsverket [72], 265,000 ha was protected as Domänreservat in 1991 (i.e., state forest company protected areas).…”

“…However, like other unique natural forest remnants such as in the Bialowieza Forest in Poland [255], the Swedish mountain forests remain as a battleground. Key issues regard intensification of forest use and logging of forests that have never been subject to clear-felling systems, vs. reindeer husbandry, conservation of biodiversity and wilderness as foundations for rural development based on value chains other than the forest industry's [68].…”

“…Additionally, with a European perspective, the forests along the Scandinavian Mountains and the Ural Mountains, which run north-south, offer better conditions for species to survive the stress of climate change [254] than forest species in the Carpathian Mountains, the Alps and the Pyrenees, which run east-west. However, these last large intact forest landscapes are at a crossroad between intensified wood production aimed at bio-economy, and rural development based on multi-functional and resilient forest landscapes for future-oriented forest value chains [68].…”

“…Ultimately, the increased range of desired goods, services and values from landscapes requires transformation of the Swedish forestry model characterized by general considera-tions, e.g., [9,278] into a zoning approach [68,392], such as TRIAD including conservation, multiple-use and production [267,393]. However, depending on landowners' preferences and available policy instruments, the opportunities for this vary considerably among local landscapes in different parts of Sweden [394].…”

Traditional Herbal Medicine and Its Clinical Relevance: A Need to Preserve the Past for the Future

“…In situ and ex situ conservation are considered two distinct methods for the protection of herbal species [74]. The in situ or on-site conservation methodology involves the preservation of entire biodiversity-rich habitats in a pristine and pure manner [75]. In many countries, initiatives have been undertaken to establish natural ecosystems, including biosphere reserves, recreational forests, national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and other types of protected areas [76].…”