Protected nature 2018:
Protected nature accounts for 15 percent of Sweden’s terrestrial area
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden and Swedish Environmental Protection Agency 2019-05-24 9.30
nextThe protected nature that emerged in 2018 consisted of almost 60 percent of forest land. Marine areas accounted for 22 percent and 12 percent were open wetlands.
Nationally designated areas of protection encompass almost 9 million hectares in total (marine areas included). Land areas and inland water account for 75 percent of that area. This represents 15 percent of Sweden’s land surface, including inland waters.
| Number of areas | Area in hectare | Share out of Sweden’s total land area, including inland waters | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type of protection | Total area, including marine water | land area | Marine waters | Inland water | |||
|
Permanent formal protection
|
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|
National parks
|
30 | 743 235 | 633 651 | 63 604 | 45 981 | 1.6% | |
|
Nature reserves
|
4 930 | 4 808 590 | 3 939 158 | 309 402 | 560 030 | 9.5% | |
|
Nature conservation areas
|
90 | 149 161 | 109 471 | 13 345 | 26 345 | 0.3% | |
|
Habitat protection areas in forest land
|
8 251 | 30 392 | 30 326 | 64 | 2 | 0.1% | |
|
Habitat protection areas, other
|
114 | 314 | 264 | 4 | 46 | 0.0% | |
|
National City Park
|
1 | 2 614 | 1 806 | 14 | 794 | 0.0% | |
|
Natura 2000
|
4 539 | 7 794 568 | 4 748 246 | 1 042 676 | 2 003 646 | 12.9% | |
|
Total, overlapping areas not included
|
8 690 671 | 5 380 269 | 1 086 743 | 2 223 659 | 14.5% | ||
|
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|
Time-limited formal protection
|
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|
Nature conservation agreements
|
18 262 | 170 219 | 168 759 | 1 439 | 21 | 0.4% | |
|
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|
Agreement between government agencies
|
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|
Fortifications Administration
|
59 | 32 284 | 30 851 | 1 378 | 56 | 0.1% | |
|
All of the above types of protection, overlapping areas not included
|
8 893 318 | 5 580 044 | 1 089 560 | 2 223 714 | 14.9% | ||
Since 2012, designated protected areas (marine and terrestrial) have increased by 1.6 million hectares. The new protection mainly consists of marine areas, of which a large share were constituted in 2016 in the form of Natura 2000.
Nationally designated areas, most commonly located in national parks and nature reserves, are unevenly distributed across the country because of the need to protect large old-growth forest areas in mountainous regions. Eighty percent of the national designated land area is located in the three northernmost counties. The protected areas in these counties are concentrated in the mountains or along the edge of the mountain chain.
Sweden has large areas of protected nature per capita compared with other countries in Europe. On the other hand, if we consider protected nature as a share of the total area, many other European countries have protected larger shares of their territories.
Definitions and explanations
Protected areas are defined here as statutory protection of nature regulated by the Environmental Code. Until 1 January 1999, the main legislative provision for nature protection in Sweden was embodied in the Act on the Management of Natural Resources (NRL). On 1 January 1999, this Act was replaced by the Environmental Code.
Publication
A more detailed report of this survey is published in the Statistical Report Protected Nature 2018 (pdf).
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.