the Forest played a crucial role in Sweden in the middle of January to the end of a new government, after more than five-month power struggle. It was not until paragraph 26 of the januariavtalet was on site as the Centre party considered that it had enough to be able to release Stefan Löfven (S) as prime minister again.
” It was a very important part for us in the negotiations. It was one of the reasons that it failed in december. Then we got all this skogspaketet. The important thing was to see forest owners as part of the green transition and strengthening private property rights, ” says Annie Lööf.
her actions, one must look outside the political bubble in the capital. Particularly among small forest owners throughout the rural areas, there has been a sense that one has the whole state apparatus against them. Environmental policy and a rigid bureaucracy has, according to them, meant a crushing blow to private economies and a violation of property rights. In short, this is the conflict on the forest that should be preserved and how the owners should be compensated for it.
It is from this opinion that Annie Lööf has downloaded an important part of their political mandate.
For centerpartister, often the forest owners, this is not just political issues. It is an almost existential question with profound ideological klangbotten. This melts the party’s more recent marknadsliberalism together with the historic legacy of the Swedish occupation of the farmers.
coincidence that Annie Lööf to the Swedish Nordmaling, the country’s strongest centerfäste, after she received the DN in his office in the Old town. There, she will visit, yes that’s right, a company in the forestry industry.
at the same time, the first budget negotiations between the social democrats, the green Party, the Centre party and the Liberals. Annie Lööf are already issuing a promise to the upset owners. Money that vanished when the Conservatives and christian democrat budget was adopted with the support of the Sverigdemokraterna going back.
– Now it is more than 200 landowners who have protected their forest who do not receive compensation. For many who have put their savings in the forest so it is a private disaster. We are pushing this to be restored already in vårändringsbudgeten, ” says Annie Lööf.
In the out money, it is about slightly more than sek 200 million. Annie Lööf is critical also to other parts of the M-KD budget in the environmental field.
– We see that it was hearty cuts when it comes to solar photovoltaic, sea and wetlands, which we want to strengthen up.
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between the Centre party and the Greens, not least in the question of how the forest should be managed. The last S-MP government invested a lot to preserve valuable forests, something that was greeted with applause by the environmental movement. The centre party believes that it has gone too far and that you have to rely more on the forest owners. Annie Lööf believe that, through the party’s förhandlingsvinster in januariavtalet it will be so.
– the Direction of Swedish forestry policy will change, ” she says.
– Many of the country’s forest owners care about their forest, otherwise they will not finance in it. Yield is often generations forward in time. I remember when I went to gran and tallplantor with my dad when I was little and they are twelve to fifteen feet high now. Skogsägarfamiljer see how important one’s own actions is for biodiversity. We will continue to have nature reserves and national parks but one must not forget how much the individual owners do.
” Not as long as you manage the forest responsibly. Sometimes, it is assumed that those who own the forest just makes the clear-cuts to earn money. It is clear that the use of the forest to return but it will not be long-term if you do not do it with common sense.
” Not at all. The forest is Sweden’s largest exporters. It creates thousands of jobs across the country. Without the forestry industry would large parts of Sweden, lie fallow, and many glesbygdskommuner depopulation. The Swedish business world can never be a special interest.
When the authorities evaluated the parliamentary environmental targets last year, it was found that the objective Living forests will not be achieved within the allotted time. In several areas, immediate actions are required, such as biological diversity.
” the Environmental objectives are very fluffy. We need to ensure that we have environmental targets it is possible to steer towards. What we want to do is to strengthen private property rights and ensure that the authorities have a better way to calculate the protected forest. We also need to develop an action plan for the bio-economy.
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In the evaluation of environmental objectives is also said that the inventory of valuable natural, so-called key biotopes, is an important tool to be able to determine which forest is to be protected.
– They are arbitrary. The way it has been done has in practice resulted in a moratorium because no one wants to buy timber from land that is classified as a key biotope. It must be done in a way that respects private property rights and legal certainty. It has been a popular movement in rural areas on how the previous government managed forestry policy, but now we get a new direction.
There is an ongoing legal dispute between The Swedish forest agency and a number of owners to sub-montane forest, which is about the right to compensation when you do not get or can cut. Leading centerpartister have called the national board’s conduct ”disgraceful” and talked about a ”crusade”. The director-general has accused the centerpartisterna for spreading ”conspiracy theories”.
” I would not express myself in that way but I think they capture the anger that is out there among the forest owners. It is the frustration I’m taking with me now to guide on Swedish forest policy. It is a David-Goliath situation.