The Nature Conservation Act is described by the EU Commission as the biggest environmental event since the introduction of the Species and Habitats Directive in Sweden in 1995.
If the Environmental Protection Agency and four other expert authorities now submit their proposal, the bill will amount to just over SEK 20 billion per year by 2032.
That’s more than double the amount currently spent on biodiversity. The majority of the money will serve as compensation for landowners.
As DN has previously shown, the Swedish government in Brussels has actively spoken out against the law. Rural Affairs Minister Peter Kullgren (KD) led a campaign against the regulation and Climate and Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari (l.) voted no.
But the law was hammered through anyway.
The government then gave in The Swedish authorities have strict requirements that the plan must not “go beyond the minimum level”. For the forest, the authorities have been instructed to use the reference year 1995, which means that the forest regeneration target will be set at the surface forest that Sweden had in the year we joined the EU.
In practice, this means that Sweden will not have to regenerate any new forest until 2050.
Torbjörn Ebenhard, research director at the Center for Biological Diversity at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and EU-level negotiator at the COP15 environmental meeting, believes that 1995 is completely out of thin air.
– There is nothing in the regulation about a reference year, it is irrelevant. The areas of different natural types to be restored must be based on ecological needs. The reference areas must be based on scientific evidence and the requirements for the long-term viability of the species, not politically chosen years, he says.
In his main proposal The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has officially deviated from the government’s line. But in an attached environmental impact statement, the agency warns that the surface is assessed as “not meeting ecological needs.”
According to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish Forestry Authority, if the law is to have the intended effect, 2.5 million hectares of forest would have to be regenerated instead.
The area corresponds to more than two Skåne. Or eight Gotland.
Karin Lexén, Secretary General of the Nature Conservation Association, points out the actual requirements.
– We need to increase the area of natural coniferous forests in Sweden by over 80 percent to meet EU requirements. But the government decided, without its own analysis or basis, that such an increase was not necessary, she says.
The WWF also sharply criticizes the fact that the government has distracted the authorities from the scientific basis.
– It is a major shortcoming that, due to the government regulation, ecological needs are not taken as a starting point and the goals for the species’ habitats are not achieved. It is crucial for Sweden to meet legal requirements, says Emelie Nilsson, conservation policy expert at WWF.
Also for meadow and the natural pastures, the government has dictated the conditions. The 2025 regulatory letter directed EPA to report the ecological reference area for grasslands as “unknown.” This is despite the fact that the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish Agriculture Agency had already prepared and reported these calculations in 2024.
The new plan therefore sets a target of a minimum size of 100,000 hectares of regenerated grassland by 2050. However, in the documents, authorities warn that the likelihood of this amount reaching the legal target is “low”, noting that 370,000 hectares were actually required.
The mouthpiece of the Greens Amanda Lind sharply criticizes the government’s dealings with the authorities.
– As soon as the instructions came, it was clear that the government did not want to adhere to the law. The fact that you don’t base your assessment on the science and research needed to restore our ecosystems is astonishingly bad, she tells DN.
At the same time, she welcomes the documentation from the expert authorities and the fact that they make visible what is necessary for nature.
– It is very good that the authorities continue to point out what is really needed. It’s not enough for the government to look for ways to lower ambitions, says Amanda Lind.
Now the time has come It is up to the government to decide how to shape the final proposal. Sweden must submit its draft to the EU Commission by September 1st at the latest. This must check and assess whether the plan meets the requirements of the law.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal was released Thursday without a press conference.
DN is looking for Climate and Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari (l.).
Facts.In this way, Sweden’s various ecosystems are to be restored
● For the forest, among other things, more adapted forestry, increased area protection and more nature-friendly management are proposed.
● Species-rich pastures must be restored through financial incentives that make it profitable to move existing animals from stables and paddocks to natural pastures.
● In lakes and bodies of water, old waterways must be renovated and obstacles to migration must be removed so that the fish can reach their original spawning and breeding areas.
● To protect the coastal and marine environment, measures aim to reduce eutrophication and limit harmful physical impacts such as bottom trawling and dredging.
● Drained wetlands must be restored to their natural water levels, for example by closing old ditches.
● In cities and urban areas, municipalities and other actors must work to maintain existing urban greenery and to increase the number of trees and green spaces in the long term.
Source: Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
Facts.This requires the EU’s new natural law
● Member states must jointly introduce area-related measures that restore at least 20 percent of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030.
● By 2030 at the latest, at least 25,000 kilometers of waterways in the Union must be free-flowing again by removing unnecessary artificial obstacles.
● There must be no net loss of the total national area of urban green space and tree canopy in cities and urban areas by 2030 compared to 2024 levels.
● Countries must introduce measures to reverse the ongoing decline in wild pollinator populations to an increase by 2030 at the latest.
● Work to improve agricultural biodiversity needs to be monitored by, among other things, measuring populations of grassland butterflies and common bird species.
Sources: EU Nature Restoration Regulation, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.
Read more:
EU law to save destroyed nature is passed – against Sweden’s wishes
Scientists and environmental movement: The government is counteracting the EU law on restoring nature
Therefore, the minister led a convincing campaign to stop the law to save devastated nature
