Protected nature 2021
More than 100 new nature reserves
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden and Swedish Environmental Protection Agency 2022-05-24 8.00
In 2021, the number of nature reserves increased by 101 areas. This means that Sweden had more than 5,300 nature reserves at the end of 2021. The largest new nature reserve was the Slite archipelago, located on the eastern side of Gotland. The area covers more than 6,300 hectares in total, including a marine area of almost 6,000 hectares.
Out of Sweden’s total land and inland water areas, 15 percent are formally protected. The vast majority is permanently protected according to instruments defined in the Environmental Code. This includes national parks, nature reserves, nature conservation areas, habitat protection areas, the National City Park and the Natura 2000 areas.
Other instruments included in the formal protection of natural environments are nature conservation agreements and intra-government agreements (that is, agreements between government agencies). In total, this makes up 0.4 percent of Sweden’s entire land and inland waters area.
| Total | Land area and inland waters | Marine water | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area in hectares | Share | Area in hectares | Share | Area in hectares | Share | |
| Environmental Code, permanent formal protection | ||||||
| National parks | 743 502 | 1.4% | 697 561 | 1.6% | 45 941 | 0.6% |
| Nature reserves | 5 040 985 | 9.5% | 4 339 466 | 9.7% | 701 520 | 8.6% |
| Nature conservation areas | 149 346 | 0.3% | 123 014 | 0.3% | 26 332 | 0.3% |
| Habitat protection areas in forest land | 32 713 | 0.1% | 32 710 | 0.1% | 3 | 0.0% |
| Habitat protection areas, other | 475 | 0.0% | 328 | 0.0% | 146 | 0.0% |
| National City Park | 2 614 | 0.0% | 1 821 | 0.0% | 794 | 0.0% |
| Natura 2000 | 7 802 894 | 12.4% | 5 797 073 | 13.0% | 2 005 821 | 9.1% |
| Total permanent protection, without overlap | 8 850 626 | 14.3% | 6 544 710 | 14.6% | 2 305 916 | 12.8% |
| Land Code, time-limited formal protection | ||||||
| Nature conservation agreements | 167 931 | 0.3% | 167 881 | 04% | 50 | 0.0% |
| Intra-governmental agreements | ||||||
| Swedish Fortifications Agency | 32 270 | 0.1% | 32 214 | 0.1% | 56 | 0.0% |
| All instruments, without overlap | 9 029 841 | 14.7% | 6 723 821 | 15.0% | 2 306 019 | 12.8% |
Source: Statistics Sweden and the Swedish register on areas protected under the Environmental Code.
Forest land on more than half of the new areas
The 2021 increase in formally protected nature consisted primarily of nature reserves. It was also decided on 26 new Natura 2000 sites. The new areas of nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites partially overlap. No increases were registered in national parks and nature conservation areas.
More than half of the new areas were forest land including mountain low forest. Marine areas made up one quarter. Open wetlands made up 13 percent of the new protected areas.
Protected areas refer to national parks, nature reserves, nature conservation areas and Natura 2000 areas (SCI)
Source: The Swedish register on areas protected under the Environmental Code and Swedish data on land cover mapping
Broadened international reporting
The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) has recently performed a review of which data should be submitted to the European common database on designated areas. This resulted in a broadening of the instruments for protecting natural environments that Sweden reports internationally. In the 2022 report, the following are also included:
- The Royal National City Park
- Numerous types of nature conservation agreements
- All Natura 2000 sites
- Areas that are included in the agreement between the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish Fortifications Agency.
- Voluntary set-asides with nature conservation objectives, which are included in SCA’s Conservation Parks.
The changes mean that Sweden is reporting over 200,000 hectares more in the 2022 report, 171,000 hectares of which as nationally designated (CDDA) and 36,000 hectares as other effective area-based conservation measures (OECM). The areas added will be visible in international databases later in 2022. Thanks to this, the international statistics will be more comparable with Sweden’s nationally reported statistics.
| Additional within CDDA | Hectare |
|---|---|
| Nature conservation agreements with the County Boards and SEPA | 4 700 |
| Nature conservation agreements with the Swedish Forest Agency | 53 800 |
| Nature conservation agreements, the White-Backed Woodpecker Action Plan, and “ekoparker” | 110 000 |
| The Royal National City Park | 2 600 |
| Total | 171 100 |
Source: Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. Areas are rounded to even 100s.
According to the SEPA's report to the EEA in March 2022
| Additional within OECM | Hectare |
|---|---|
| Agreement with the Swedish Fortifications Agency | 32 300 |
| Voluntary set-asides areas within SCA’s Conservation parks | 3 700 |
| Total | 36 000 |
Source: Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. Areas are rounded to even 100s.
Definitions and explanations
Statistics Sweden produces yearly statistics on protected nature in collaboration with the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. A protected area refers to a geographically defined area that is permanently designated, regulated and administered to achieve specific aims and conservation goals. In Sweden, “protected area” is a collective term for protection under Chapter 7 of the Environmental Code and according to many of the nature conservation agreements under the Land Code.
Sweden’s national and official statistics on protected nature contain information on a selection of protected areas under Chapter 7 of the Environmental Code. Information is also presented on protected rivers, protected species, nature conservation agreements under the Land Code, Intra-governmental agreements, and forest land covered by land replacement.
The data refers to areas that applied (that is, for which judgment was final) on 31 December 2021. Most of the data has been retrieved from the Swedish register on areas protected under the Environmental Code and the database on Sweden’s Natura 2000 areas.
Explanations concerning the table Formally protected nature 31/12/2021:
- The proportion of protected area has been calculated using Sweden’s total area, as reported in Statistics Sweden’s official statistics on land and water areas (see www.scb.se/mi0802-en, reference time 01/01/2022).
- Nature reserves, Natura 2000, and nature conservation agreements include areas without restrictions, for example without regulations against forestry. The data refers to areas that applied (that is, for which judgment was final) on 31/12/2021.
- Proportions and areas cannot be added up because some protection types overlap each other. Statistics adjusted for overlapping areas are marked with the text “without overlap”.
- Natura 2000 within Sweden’s exclusive economic zone is included in the presentation of total area and marine areas in hectares. Areas within the exclusive economic zone are not included in the presentation of proportions, since that presentation only covers areas within Sweden’s territory. Natura 2000 sites within the exclusive economic zone covers about 1.3 million hectares.
- Nature conservation agreements include the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s and the Swedish Forest Agency’s nature conservation agreements, the White-Backed Woodpecker Action Plan, and “ekoparker”. Several agreements do not have end date information available. Among the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s agreements, 85 agreements, comprising 2 191 hectares, have a remaining duration of less than 15 years.
- Information on the number of areas related to intra-governmental agreements with the Swedish Fortifications Agency was retrieved from “Överenskommelse om skydd av särskilt värdefulla naturskogsområden, Nv Reg. no. 310-167-10 No.
- Areas for nature conservation agreements of the type “ekoparker” are under investigation.
Publication
A more detailed report of this survey is published in the publication Protected Nature 2021 (pdf).
Next publishing will be
The next statistical news in this series will be published in 2023.
Statistical Database
More information is available in the Statistical Database
Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.