Nature and cultural conservation in forest management

This document constitutes a national strategy for nature and cultural conservation management of formally protected and voluntarily set-aside forests until 2030. The task of developing the strategy came from the Environmental Objectives Council and was part of the council's program area Initiatives for Green Infrastructure. The strategy has been developed through a collaborative project led by the Swedish Forest Agency and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, with participants from a large number of forestry stakeholders. Representatives from large-scale forestry, landowner organizations, non-profit nature conservation organizations, the Swedish National Heritage Board, the Sami Parliament, and county administrative boards have participated in the collaboration. Based on their experience and knowledge, these representatives contributed to the design and content of the strategy. In addition, a number of organizations participated in individual activities and contributed to a broad picture of both the current state of knowledge and practical conditions. The strategy is a comprehensive policy document aimed at those who manage formally protected or voluntarily set-aside areas. Ensuring that formally protected and voluntarily set-aside forests receive the nature conservation management they need is central to the work of preserving biodiversity. The strategy thus contributes to the fulfilment of the environmental quality objective Living Forests and to Sweden's international commitments under the EU Nature Conservation Directive and the Convention on Biological Diversity. The aim is for the strategy to provide: a direction for long-term work on nature and cultural conservation; support for stakeholders in setting their own goals and priorities; proposals for system-level initiatives to strengthen the conditions for implementing measures and a basis for collaboration between relevant stakeholders.