Quantitative targets of Swedish forest policy

In March 2005, the Swedish Forest Agency formally adopted a set of objectives for the nation’s forest sector. They include overall policy objectives laid down by the Swedish parliament, plus thirteen quantitative targets to be fulfilled within a specified time (“interim targets”*). Approval of the objectives culminated a two-year development process involving the Forest Agency and a wide range of interests within the forest sector.

The process of developing forest-sector objectives with a strong emphasis on stakeholder involvement satisfies many of the requirements of national forest programmes (“nfps”). But the objectives do not allocate responsibility or indicate which measures need to be taken. Those concerns are often understood to be addressed by nfps. Thus, the forest-sector objectives may be seen as an important component of an nfp for Sweden.

Also, there are similarities between the forest-sector objectives and the criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management (C&I) adopted by the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE). The principal difference is that the objectives are primarily concerned with a desired set of conditions or trend, while the C&I consist largely of statistics that have great relevance for policy. Several interim targets of the forest-sector objectives are in some regards similar to indicators of the C&I system. In particular, the targets relating to environmental considerations are quite similar to indicators of biological diversity.

At the international level, the greatest similarity appears to be with the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD). Countries which are party to the Convention are urged to develop quantitative national targets in order to fulfil a global target for a substantial reduction in losses of biodiversity by year 2010. The Swedish forest-sector objectives include interim targets which correspond to a number of the CBD’s outcome-oriented targets.

The Swedish Forest Agency intends to follow-up the interim targets on an annual basis.

*Interim targets are quantifiable, attainable goals to be fulfilled by a specific date.