People walking in a broad leaved forest. Foto: Jenny Leyman

Voluntary set-asides and forest land under forest management certification schemes

The statistics describe how large areas forest owners have voluntarily set aside for nature conservation purposes and how much area is covered by the two certification systems PEFC and FSC.

According to the Swedish Forest Agency's definition, a voluntary set-aside is an area of continuous productive forest land for which landowners have voluntarily decided not to take measures that may harm its natural, cultural and social value. The area must be documented in a plan or other document.

Forest certification is a voluntary commitment that forest owners can make for responsible and sustainable forestry. The certification means that forest owners undertake to adapt forestry to specific rules on how they conduct forestry, what consideration they take of the environment and the conditions for those who work in forestry.

2022 was:

1.4 million hectares voluntarily set aside

14.8 million hectares certified

Area of voluntary set-asides

The area of voluntary set-asides in 2022 was 1.4 million hectares, which is an increase of about 50,000 hectares compared to 2021.  Over time, voluntary provisions have increased since measurement started in 1996, first at a rapid pace until 2010 and then more slowly, as shown in Figure 1.

Logotype Official Statistics of Sweden

Individual landowners account for 40 percent of the area of voluntary set-aside and other landowners for 60 percent. Individual landowners are natural persons and estates of deceased persons, while other landowners are limited companies, public landowners, religious communities, and other legal entities.

The proportions can be compared with individual landowners owning 53 percent of all productive forest land outside formal protection and other owners the remaining 47 percent. This means that in the group of individual owners, voluntary provisions account for just under 5 percent of the area productive forest land outside formal protection, while the corresponding figure for other owners is almost 8 percent.

84 percent of the area of voluntary set-aside, less than 1.2 million hectares, is within the forest land that is certified with FSC or PEFC. The non-certified forest land accounts for the remaining 200,000 hectares of the voluntary set-aside. In total, almost 8 percent of the certified area was voluntarily set aside.

Logotype Official Statistics of Sweden

The largest area of voluntary set-asides is found in Jämtland County, followed by Norrbotten County. The lowest area of voluntary set-asides is found in Gotland County. Figure 3 provides data for all counties.

Voluntary set-asides can be related to the productive forest land area. Figure 4 shows voluntary set-aside as a proportion of productive forest land area outside formal protection for each county. There, too, Jämtland has the highest share with 8 percent and Gotland has the lowest share.

Both the statistics with county divisions and ownership categories contain somewhat greater uncertainty than estimates for the whole country because a few respondents in the survey cannot give an exact breakdown there. In these cases, the Swedish Forest Agency uses other data or assumptions to distribute the statistics by county and owner category.

Logotype Official Statistics of Sweden
Logotype Official Statistics of Sweden

Certified area

The productive forest land area certified according to PEFC or FSC amounted in 2022 to just over 14.8 million hectares, which is about 67 percent of all productive forest land outside formal protection.  This is an increase of approximately 20,000 hectares compared to 2021.

Many forest owners are certified according to both certification organizations, see figure 5. As much as 75 percent of the certified area is double certified, i.e. both certified according to FSC and PEFC. 1.9 percent have only PEFC certification and 6 percent only FSC. See Figure 5.

The most certified forest land area is in Norrbotten County, where approximately 2.3 million hectares of forest land are certified. On Gotland, 26,000 hectares of forest land is certified, which is the smallest area of all counties. Figure 6 shows certified productive forest land area for all counties.

Logotype Official Statistics of Sweden

Forest status in geocoded voluntary set-asides

The statistics on voluntary set-asides presented are a processing of data collected either through surveys or maps (geodata). These two data sources together provide an overall picture of the voluntary provisions. With geodata, there is then an opportunity to make in-depth statistics when combined with the National Forest Inventory. But since geodata only accounts for 45 percent of the voluntary provisions and is concentrated in Norrland and Svealand, it is not a complete overall picture that is shown of the forest condition in the voluntary provisions.

In this section on the characteristics of voluntary provisions, only these 45 percent are represented and the estimates should not be seen of all voluntary provisions.

Coniferous forest dominance

More than 90 percent of the voluntary set-aside consists of coniferous forest. Other productive forest land consists of 83 percent coniferous forest. Like other productive forest land, voluntary set-aside is dominated by coniferous forest (Figure 7). The dominance of coniferous forest is greatest in southern Norrland, where 95 percent of the area consists of coniferous forest.

Note that the results in the figure refer to only 45 percent of voluntary set-asides, it is not possible to say how representative this subset is for all voluntary set-asides.

More old forest in voluntary set-aside than in other forest

Within voluntary set-aside, 89 percent of the area of forest is older than 81 years. Forests older than 121 years make up 66 percent. The corresponding figures for other productive forest land are 26 and 13 percent, respectively, see Figure 8.

The largest proportion of forest in the oldest age group, 121+ years, is found in southern Norrland, 75 percent, and lowest in Svealand, 44 percent.

Note that the results in the figure refer to only 45 percent of voluntary set-asides, it is not possible to say how representative this subset is for all voluntary set-asides.

More wood in voluntary set-aside than in other forests

Wood volume per hectare of living trees and dead wood is higher in voluntary set-aside compared to other productive forest land, see Figure 9.

The volume has increased for living trees since the mid-1980s. This applies to both voluntary set-aside and other productive forest land. The volume of living trees in voluntary set-aside has increased by 65 percent from 119 to 196 m3/hectare, the corresponding relative increase for other productive forest land is about 30 percent.

The volume of deadwood in voluntary provisions has increased by 60 percent from 15 to 24 m3/hectare since the 1990s. The volume of dead wood in other forests has also increased, but not to the same extent.

Note that the results in the figure refer to only 45 percent of voluntary set-asides, it is not possible to say how representative this subset is for all voluntary set-asides

Similar proportion of deciduous trees and hard dead wood

Figure 10 compares the volume of deciduous trees in voluntary set-aside and other productive forest land with the total volume of wood in each area. The volume of dead wood is also compared with the total volume of dead wood in the area.

Overall, for the three parts of the country, the proportion of deciduous trees is 20 percent lower in voluntary set-aside than in other productive forest land, while the proportion of hard dead wood is the same.

Note that the results in the figure refer to only 45 percent of voluntary set-asides, it is not possible to say how representative this subset is for all voluntary set-asides.

  • Last Updated: 7/11/2023