65 procent of the water edges have an environmental consideration zone

Nyhet | Statistik - 02 December 2025

During regeneration fellings carried out in the felling seasons 2021/2022 to 2023/2024, environmental consideration zones were left along 65 percent of the length of the water edge. One third of the water edge therefore lacks a consideration zone. The average width of the consideration zones along water edges is 14 meters.

Starting with this year’s publication, the results are based on a newly developed inventory of environmental consideration left at felling, including an updated method for estimating the width of consideration zones along water. This means that this year’s results are not fully comparable with those of previous years. Additional statistics from the new environmental consideration inventory, such as the distribution of consideration areas by nature-value class, will be published on 24 March 2026.

Consideration for water

For regeneration fellings carried out during the felling seasons 2021/2022–2023/2024 that include a water edge, environmental consideration in the form of a consideration zone was left along 65 percent of the water edge length. The average width of these consideration zones was 14 meters. Water refers to watercourses, lakes or the sea, but not ditches. As the width of consideration zones is measured using a different methodology than in earlier published results, the values are not directly comparable.

Environmental consideration areas during felling

During the 2021/2022–2023/2024 felling seasons, 85 percent of the regeneration-felled area was located on fellings where some form of consideration area was left. The total share of area designated as consideration areas was 9 percent for the country as a whole. By region, the share of consideration areas was 11 percent in Northern Norrland, 8 percent in Southern Norrland, 9 percent in Svealand, and 6 percent in Götaland.

Consideration areas by type

Because the statistics are based on a new inventory, the distribution of consideration areas among consideration types has changed. In this publication, the consideration types reported are edge zones along water, other edge zones, and other consideration areas.

The proportion consisting of edge zones along water was just over 2 percent, while other edge zones accounted for 3 percent. For other forms of consideration, the area share was 4 percent.

The total area of consideration has been relatively stable over the years, but with the new inventory method there is a clear shift between previously reported and newly reported consideration types. The change is due to methodological adjustments. In earlier statistics, consideration areas with values equivalent to a biotope requiring special consideration were classified as biotopes, whereas they are now to a larger extent classified as edge zones. In the reporting, this results in a decrease in the category “other consideration areas,” since these areas are now more often assigned to edge zones.

About the statistics

From 2025 onward, results are presented from a newly developed inventory of environmental consideration with an updated method. An inventory of environmental consideration is now undertaken only after felling, roughly one year after the felling has taken place. In the new method, data are collected through measurements in sample plots and through delineation of consideration areas directly in the field. Edge zones are measured by registering the full extent of the zone as a polygon on a map using GPS, which differs from the previous point- and transect-based method.

The types of consideration areas and consideration zones included in the inventory cover edge zones adjacent to watercourses (including ditches, although ditches are not included in this reporting), lakes or the sea, peatland impediments, rocky impediments, formally protected areas, biotopes requiring special consideration, and other land categories or forest management units. In addition, other consideration areas that are not edge zones are included.

A consideration area (both edge zones and other consideration areas) must be located on productive forest land that has reached the minimum permitted final felling age and must either border or be surrounded by the felled area. To be included in the inventory, the area must be at least 100 square meters and at most 1 hectare. However, consideration areas may exceed 1 hectare if they are elongated and border watercourses, peatland edges, or steep slopes.

Explanation

“Water edge” refers to the boundary where land meets the sea, lakes, or watercourses.

The statistics form part of Sweden’s Official Statistics.
The results are available in the Swedish Forest Agency’s statistics database.