Objective
Sweden has several priority habitat types for which it holds a significant proportion of the remaining EU coverage. These include in particular western taiga, bog woodland, aapa mires and raised bogs. Yet these habitats have also been fast disappearing in Sweden over the last decades. Both western taiga and bogs have been significantly affected by commercial forestry activities. It is estimated that less than 3% of the total forest area is now still to be considered virgin western taiga.
Characterised by their complex composition of both young and old trees of deciduous and coniferous species, these virgin forests are extremely rich in biological terms, providing habitats for many threatened species of animals and plants. The dead wood, in particular, plays a central role in maintaining this high conservation value and its scarcity is one of the most serious threats to biodiversity.
All this disappears when the area is commercially harvested. The associated mires also suffer once the trees are chopped down as roads have to be built into the area to remove the timber and this severely disrupts the hydrology of the mires, leading eventually to their degradation and loss.
It is for this reason that the Swedish Environment Protection Agency has launched a nationwide programme for the conservation of the remaining western taiga and mires of high conservation value. The present project will assist in this process by co-financing the purchase of 6 sites containing priority habitats and covering altogether nearly 1500ha. Once agreements have been reached with the land owners, a management plan will be drawn up for each individual site to ensure its long term conservation.
Topic(s)
Data not availableCall for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
10648 Stockholm
Sweden