Water, Forests, People: The Swedish Experience in Building Resilient Landscapes

Abstract

A growing world population and rapid expansion of cities increase the pressure on basic resources such as water, food and energy. To safeguard the provision of these resources, restoration and sustainable management of landscapes is pivotal, including sustainable forest and water management. Sustainable forest management includes forest conservation, restoration, forestry and agroforestry practices. Interlinkages between forests and water are fundamental to moderate water budgets, stabilize runoff, reduce erosion and improve biodiversity and water quality. Sweden has gained substantial experience in sustainable forest management in the past century. Through significant restoration efforts, a largely depleted Swedish forest has transformed into a well-managed production forest within a century, leading to sustainable economic growth through the provision of forest products. More recently, ecosystem services are also included in management decisions. Such a transformation depends on broad stakeholder dialog, combined with an enabling institutional and policy environment. Based on seminars and workshops with a wide range of key stakeholders managing Sweden’s forests and waters, this article draws lessons from the history of forest management in Sweden. These lessons are particularly relevant for countries in the Global South that currently experience similar challenges in forest and landscape management. The authors argue that an integrated landscape approach involving a broad array of sectors and stakeholders is needed to achieve sustainable forest and water management. Sustainable landscape management—integrating water, agriculture and forests—is imperative to achieving resilient socio-economic systems and landscapes.

Applying a science‐based systems perspective to dispel misconceptions about climate effects of forest bioenergy

“…For example, in Sweden, which was widely deforested in the 1800s, forest expansion together with intensive forest management has doubled the standing volume of forests over the last 100 years, at the same time as annual harvest has increased (Figure 2). This outcome was supported by forest policy that ensures harvest does not exceed growth, and forests are regenerated after harvest (Eriksson et al, 2018). A similar trend of increased forest carbon stock with simultaneous increase in harvest has occurred in Denmark (Nord‐Larsen et al, 2020), Finland (Luke, 2017) and in the southeast United States (Aguilar et al, 2020).…”

Identifying the Influence of Land Cover and Human Population on Chlorophyll a Concentrations Using a Pseudo-Watershed Analytical Framework

“…We found that forested landscapes were negatively associated with chlorophyll a concentrations (Mixed Forest rho= −0.029, Deciduous Broadleaf Forest rho = −0.24) and appeared to be essential in limiting the amount of runoff that is bound for freshwater systems [63]. In forested landscapes, soil is more porous and prone to water infiltration which reduces surface runoff and increases nutrient uptake [64].…”

Knowledge Production for Resilient Landscapes: Experiences from Multi-Stakeholder Dialogues on Water, Food, Forests, and Landscapes

“…Figure 2 shows the different steps in the theory of change (1)(2)(3)(4)(5) in grey circles, the boundary partners and stakeholders involved in the process, and their interlinkages. The MSP on Water and Food is displayed to the left, and the MSP for Water and Forests to the right, with links to the Water and Landscape MSP at the bottom that brings together inputs from all the different boundary partners.…”

“…Landscape-wide approaches that integrate the development of agriculture, forestry, energy, and water are considered key to address complex environmental problems [1,2], and to avoid trade-offs between response options. Applying the landscape approach is particularly useful when integrated solutions are required to solve complex challenges related to sustainable development [3].…”