Upscaling restoration of forests and forest landscapes in Sweden

According to the SUPERB Grant agreement several of the partners within SUPERB, including the Swedish, should deliver an Upscaling route-map based on the findings from their demo-area. According to the guide for these documents (Deliverable 8.1, Annex 1 - Guidelines to develop a route-map for upscaling forest restoration based on learnings from pilot projects), an upscaling route-map should facilitate a wider uptake of the restoration techniques being piloted or demonstrated (or -"bridging the gap between bottom-up and top-down approaches to restoration"). Furthermore, the route-map should cover why the experiences drawn from that demo-area is relevant also generally outside the demo-area, on what scale (where) the experience is relevant, who the key upscaling actors are and the main key enablers and barriers for upscaling, based on the knowledge and experience gained.

WHY and WHERE - The Swedish demo-area is large, a total of 1.3 million hectare encompassing the Vindelådalen catchment area, extending from the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia in the east to the mountains and the national border to Norway in the west. It includes both an expanding city (Umeå) and more sparsely populated rural areas. Based on this area, the Swedish SUPERB team together with other European SUPERB participants, has demonstrated practical restoration actions and investigated and explored different aspects of forest restoration. Due to the size and variation within the biosphere reserve, the knowledge and experiences gained in the demo-area should be relevant for upscaling of forest restoration in large parts of Sweden, and especially in the coniferous forestdominated boreal and mountainous parts.

(HOW and) WHO – For upscaling, we consider a successful implementation of the Nature Restoration Regulation to be the overarching and most important route for restoration of forests and forest landscapes in Sweden. Therefore, the officers and politicians who will develop and decide about the national restoration plan is the main audience for this Upscaling route-map. 

KEY ENABLERS and BARRIERS – The report provide a broad picture of the conditions, opportunities and obstacles for increased forest restoration in Sweden, focusing on both enablers and barriers for a successful implementation of the Nature Restoration Regulation in Sweden.