The Swedish Forest Agencys formal protection and compensations
Here you will find statistics on habitat protection areas, nature conservation agreements and compensation for infringement to landowners who had been denied felling permission in montane forests.
In 2025, Swedish Forest Agency established 93 new habitat protection areas and 17 new nature conservation agreement. All in all, this corresponded to 995 hectare of productive forest land and a compensation of SEK 151 million. It is a continuation of recent years' low level of new formal protection.
The reason for the low levels is that the Swedish Forest Agency had to reserve the funds for compensation for infringement to landowners who had been denied felling permission in montane forests. These compensations has increased sharply since the start in 2020, during 2025 250 million SEK was paid out.
The Swedish Forest Agency´s formal protection of forests land
A habitat protection area is a statutory way to protect small areas of great importance for flora and fauna. The reimbursement to the landowner corresponds to the decline in market value of the land plus 25 percent. The habitat protection regulations regarding forest land have been in place since 1994.
The possibility of nature conservation agreements has existed since 1993. The nature conservation agreement is a civil and time-limited agreement. The compensation varies depending on how long the contract is valid. The time can vary between one and fifty years. For a 50-year agreement, the landowner receives 60 percent of the area's net conversion value in compensation. Since 2015, it has also been possible to sign nature conservation agreements for areas with high social values. These may be areas that are frequently visited and used for recreation.
Waiting agreement for formal protection
As of 1 January 2024, Swedish Forest Agency is offering property owners waiting agreements pending formal protection, and they are also included in the statistics. Since waiting agreements for formal protection are signed in the beginning of the process of an initiated case it is not decided which form of it will be in the end, habitat protection area or nature conservation agreement.
Discontinued formally protected areas
Some of the habitat protection areas and nature conservation agreements are repealed if, for example, a nature reserve is established for the land area for which they apply and if the agreement period for some nature conservation agreements expires.
Facts on the Swedish Forest Agency's formal protection and compensations
Our statistical database contains statistics from Swedish Forest Agency. Produce a table by selecting your subject and variables.
How much forest land is formal protected with habitat protection areas and nature conservation agreements?
A total of 76,600 hectares of forest land was protected with habitat protection areas or nature conservation agreements by the Swedish Forest Agency at the end of 2025. Of these, 70,0000 hectares were on productive forest land. Of the productive forest land, 34,600 hectares were within habitat protection areas and 35,500 hectares within nature conservation agreements.
In 2025, the Swedish Forest Agency established habitat protection areas on 610 hectares of productive forest land and signed nature conservation agreements for approximately 340 hectares of productive forest land. It is a continuation of the low level of new formal protections in recent years.
The reason is that the same funds are also used to pay infringement compensation for denied felling permission in montane forests. These infringement compensations have increased significantly since 2020, see further details down on this page. Historically, the levels of the Swedish Forest Agency newly established formal protection were highest in the years 2002 to 2005 when an average of 5,500 hectares of productive forest land was protected per year (Figure 1).
The average productive forest land area for new habitat protection areas in 2025 was 6.6 hectares. For nature conservation agreements, it was 20 hectares. The trend is that habitat protection areas have become larger over time, while nature conservation agreements vary more between years. See figure 2.
Which biotope types are protected?
The agreements signed by the Swedish Forest Agency are linked to specific biotopes. There are approximately 20 different biotope types. The most common biotope type for the nature conservation agreements is natural forest-like coniferous forest, by 16,200 hectares of productive forest land. Natural forest-like coniferous forest accounted for 47 percent of all productive forest land within the nature conservation agreements, see figure 3.
The most common biotope type in habitat protection areas is older natural woodlands. They make up 23,800 hectares or 69 percent of the productive forest land area in the habitat protection areas, see figure 4.
How much is the compensation?
A total of just over SEK 3.4 billion has been used for the creation of habitat protection areas and 600 million SEK for nature conservation agreements since 1993. Distribution of compensation per county can be seen in figure 5.
On average, compensation in 2025 was around 211,000 SEK per hectare (total area) for habitat protection areas. The nature conservation agreements had an average compensation of 23,000 SEK per hectare (total area).
Average compensation is preliminary because it happens that the Swedish Forest Agency decide on compensation for habitat protection areas without first agreeing with the landowner on compensation. In those cases, the compensation will be zero until an agreement on compensation is made or determined made in court.
In 2009, an addition of 25 percent to the infringement compensation in addition to the market value was introduced for habitat protection areas. That increase, as well as the increased compensation levels for nature conservation agreements introduced during the early 2010s, can be discerned in Figure 6.
The compensation is affected by, for example, the timber value of the forest land, which means that it can vary over the years depending on where in the country the new nature conservation agreements are located. The length of the agreement also has an impact, with shorter agreements generally having lower compensation. Many newly formed short nature conservation agreements can therefore reduce the average compensation for a single year.
The figure shows average per hectare where there is an agreement regarding the payment.
Waiting agreement for formal protection
As of 1 January 2024, Swedish Forest Agency is offering property owners waiting agreements pending formal protection, and they are also included in the statistics. Since waiting agreements for formal protection are signed in the beginning of the process of an initiated case it is not decided which form of it will be in the end, habitat protection area or nature conservation agreement. The duration period for a waiting agreement is normally two years. During this period, the property owner agrees not to carry out any forestry activities in the area. The property owner receives compensation when the waiting agreement is signed. However, signing a waiting agreement does not guarantee that the area will later receive formal protection.
At the end of December 2025, 28 waiting agreements had been entered into, including 297 hectare and a compensation of SEK 230 000.
Discontinued formally protected areas
Some of the habitat protection areas and nature conservation agreements are discontinued if, for example, a nature reserve is established for the forest land area for which they apply or if the agreement period for a nature conservation agreement expires.
The statistics about habitat protection areas and nature conservation agreements protected areas do not include discontinued protected areas. Hence, discontinued areas are reported as a separate table.
At the end of December 2025, 86habitat protection areas covering 280 hectares were discontinued, comprising a compensation of SEK 14,8 million. In addition, 71 nature conservation agreements were discontinued covering 296 hectares and a compensation of SEK 3,9 million.
Habitat protection areas and nature conservation agreements above the border for mountain forests and nature conservation agreements that have high social values
Above the border for mountain forest, a total of 140 hectares of productive forest land is protected as a habitat protection area and 780 hectares of productive forest land is protected as nature conservation agreements. In 2016, the latest formal protection was established above the border of mountain forest. However, the Swedish Forest Agency has paid infringement compensation for denied felling permission on forest land above the border of montane forests during the years 2020 to 2024. The forest areas that the Swedish Forest Agency has compensated for are not formally protected in the same way as the habitat protection areas and nature conservation agreements.
Since 2015, it has been possible to sign nature conservation agreements in areas that have high social values. So far, the Swedish Forest Agency has agreed on 17 such areas. They comprise a total of 90 ha of productive forest land. The last agreements were signed in 2022 and 2024.
Infringement compensation for denied felling permission in montane forests decreased
In 2020, a legal process was concluded that resulted in the Swedish Forest Agency starting to pay infringement compensation to landowners who had been denied felling permission in areas above the border of montane forests. In 2020, only a few infringement compensation payments were made, but in the following years the number of payments increased sharply. In 2025, SEK 250 million was paid out in infringement compensation. (Figure 7). This is a decrease of approximately SEK 70 million compared with the previous year.
An important reason why the level has fallen in the 2020s is that the largest part of the appropriation has had to be reserved for infringement compensation to landowners who apply for felling in montane forests, but where permits are often refused depending on very high natural values.
Overall, over the years 2020 to 2024, infringement compensation to landowners who had been denied felling permission in montane forests on 30,000 hectares of productive forest land, of which 8,500 hectares were added during 2025.
In Sweden, the mountain forest is found in four counties: Dalarna, Jämtland, Västerbotten and Norrbotten. Västerbotten county has had almost 64 percent of the infringement compensated forest land up to 2024, while 34 percent was in Jämtland county. The remaining proportion was distributed between the counties of Dalarna and Norrbotten. See Figure 8.
More about formally protected forest land
The statistics reported here only cover the Swedish Forest Agency's establishment of habitat protection areas and nature conservation agreements. Habitat protection areas and nature conservation agreements are also formed by other government authorities and municipalities. Therefore the statistics presented here do not give a complete picture of these instruments, only the formal protection signed by the Swedish Forest Agency. There are also other types of formally protected forest land, for example nature reserves. Complete statistics for all protected forest land is given by Statistics Sweden and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency later in the spring, in the publication Protected Nature. As well as in the statistics on formally protected forest land, voluntary set-asides, consideration areas and unproductive forest land published in June.