When Magnus Andersson goes out every day to check on his reindeer herd, he is never sure that all of his animals will be there. Reindeer increasingly have to travel longer distances to find pasture and sometimes go missing. They can also end up crushed and seriously injured on the side of a road. Magnus is a shepherd from the Sami village of Ran, in Västerbotten County, in northern Sweden. For him, reindeer herding is not only his economic livelihood, but also a way of life linked to his culture, his ancestors and nature.
In this Sami community, there are 25 herders with 10,000 reindeer. Decades ago, the animals grazed from the mountains near the Norwegian border to the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia, following the Vindeln River. However, this migration is very complicated today, as the forests that serve as a habitat for the reindeer are disappearing.
Although 70% of Sweden’s territory is covered by forests – it has the largest forest area in the European Union – only 8% is protected. 70% of the country’s forest area is exploited by the logging industry, which has led to the disappearance of boreal forests in recent years.
The boreal forests of northern Scandinavia consist of vast areas of fir, pine, spruce and other coniferous species. In this ecosystem, lichens grow on the ground and on the trunks of trees, which provide food for reindeer herds. Forests also play a fundamental role in mitigating climate change, as they absorb large amounts of CO2.
But according to a study by Lund University, almost a quarter of the boreal forests were logged between 2003 and 2019. The study concludes that if logging continues at the same rate, these ecologically unique and valuable forests will be completely lost within 50 years. Other scientific studies also point out that since 1950, 70% of the lichen forest areas have disappeared in Sweden, where they are increasingly decreasing.
Logging and rising temperatures
Magnus knows how difficult it is to find pasture for his reindeer. One morning, he became desperate when he saw that a paper company had destroyed the forest where his animals grazed in the spring: “This forest served as a migratory passage along the river, now it will take about 30 years to rehabilitate it,” he explains. With the felling of the trees, the land had been scarified in such a way that it was practically impossible to regenerate the lichen carpet naturally: “It looked like a potato field,” he recalls. The second problem is that after the logging, trees of the same age and species would be replanted, which would reduce biodiversity and turn the forest into a monoculture.
According to the Swedish Forest Industry Association (Skogsindustrierna), the number of trees in Sweden has now doubled compared to 100 years ago, since for every tree that is cut down, two are planted. What these figures don’t take into account is that monoculture forests have other negative impacts. “Forests for the forest industry are much denser and darker, which prevents lichens from growing on the ground and affects native biodiversity, causing other plants and animals to disappear,” says Åsa Granberg, a member of the Västerbotten administrative board.
According to Swedish law, companies that harvest timber from forests are required to consult the Sami community before felling trees to find out whether they are in reindeer-grazing forests. The Sami, however, regret that these consultations are illusory, since they limit themselves to informing the herders of the planned fellings, without taking their opinion into account.
Beyond the disappearance of forests, the Sami people’s reindeer herding is also threatened by the effects of climate change. High temperatures in recent winters near the Arctic Circle have caused alternating snow and rain, forming a thick, hard layer of ice on the ground that prevents the reindeer from eating lichens. In addition, the monoculture forests that now dominate the landscape of northern Sweden are also less resilient to global warming, making them more susceptible to pests, floods and fires. For Magnus, the problem is this: “For generations, we Sami have been the ones who have cared for and protected nature, but now no one listens to our needs.”
The new generations
In June, the European Union finally approved a law that could bring about significant change for the forests of northern Sweden. The Nature Restoration Act aims to restore ecosystems that have the greatest potential for CO2 retention, such as boreal forests. In concrete terms, the new EU directive provides for measures to regenerate and protect an area of 20% of all degraded forest and marine ecosystems by 2030.
Although the law was passed, Sweden voted against the measure. The Nordic country’s rejection cannot be understood without taking into account the economic weight of its forest industry, which represents between 10% and 12% of total exports, and generates 120,000 jobs, especially in the most rural and uninhabited areas of the north. Sweden, like the rest of the EU member states, will have to present a national plan to restore the nature and biodiversity of its forests in the coming years.
The Superb project, led by the European Forest Institute, is already putting into practice some of the reforestation measures that will pave the way in the coming years. “Here we are working to promote forest restoration, but also to make the landscape more functional for reindeer grazing,” says Andreas Garpebring, nature conservation officer in Västerbotten County.
The restoration of its ecosystem also benefits 200 species of plants and animals, allowing reindeer to graze in these forests again.
One of the project’s goals is to recover the natural habitat of the endangered and extremely difficult to observe white-backed woodpecker – it is currently estimated that there are between 15 and 20 pairs of the bird, but a few years ago there were only one or two pairs left in the whole of Sweden.
To attract woodpeckers, the forest must resemble its most pristine and wild state, with old trees, dead wood in the understory and a diversity of flora and fauna. Superb has also developed a technique to simulate the burning of logs and shrubs in a controlled manner, which promotes soil regeneration.
For Magnus and his reindeer, the nature restoration plans represent an opportunity for Sweden’s forests: “If we succeed, it will be a big step for us. It’s not easy to do, but we have to start with small steps,” he says. Magnus has an 18-year-old son who will soon have to decide whether he wants to continue tending his family’s reindeer herd and says: “We need to give some hope so that young people can continue our legacy.”
