Protected nature, 31/12/2023
Nature reserves increased in 2023
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden and Swedish Environmental Protection Agency 2024-05-23 8.00
Sweden's nature reserves increased by 60,000 hectares in 2023. More than 100 new areas became valid and several existing areas were expanded. The largest new area was Norra Borgafjällen in Dorotea municipality, covering almost 20,000 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 0.5 percent of Sweden’s entire land and inland waters area.
Net increase 45,600 hectares in 2023
In 2023, the area of nature reserves increased by almost 60,000 hectares. Habitat protection areas increased by 760 hectares and nature conservation agreements by 1,380 hectares. Due to overlap with previously designated Natura 2000 areas, there was a net increase of 45,600 hectares for the total formal protection.
Norra Borgafjällen largest among new areas
The largest new nature reserve was Norra Borgafjällen, located in the northern and mountainous area of Sweden. The area covers almost 20,000 hectares in total, including a lot of open land in the mountainous region. The second largest new nature reserve was Ronneby blåmusselbankar, located in the southern and coastal area of Sweden. It has an area of more than 14,000 hectares, consisting almost entirely of marine water. The area received legal force in 2021, but due to technical reasons it has not been included in the statistics until now.
Source: Statistics Sweden and the Swedish register on areas protected under the Environmental Code.
Sweden’s international reporting in 2023
In this year's reporting to the NatDa database (Nationally Designated Areas), the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency reported 3,733 new areas. They mainly consisted of newly added areas in the OECM category. The total area of OECM was 74 percent larger than the previous year's reported area. In total, almost 9.25 million hectares of protected nature were reported, including OECM. The OECM constitutes more than 1 percent of the total area reported for 2023.
| Area in hectares | Difference between 2022 to 2023 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2023 | Area in hectares |
Percent | |
| Protected areas | 9 084 696 | 9 121 317 | 36 621 | 0,40% |
| OECM | 71 728 | 124 769 | 53 041 | 73,95% |
| Total | 9 156 425 | 9 246 086 | 89 661 | 0,98% |
Source: Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.
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 2023. 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.
Publication
A more detailed report of this survey is published in the publication Protected Nature 31/12/2023 (pdf).
Next publishing will be
The next statistical news in this series will be published in 2025.
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.