Active forest management has helped to expand Sweden’s forested areas and thereby boost the country’s wood and bioenergy resource base. While about three-quarters of annual growth is harvested, those areas are replanted. The other quarter of each year’s growth is left in place to provide ongoing carbon uptake and maintain ecological stability.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests has urged the environment ministry to take stringent steps to curb the illegal felling of trees. No action plans was prepared by the ministry to control illegal cutting of trees.

This report is intended to provide guidance to develop enabling legal frameworks governing community forestry. It offers recommendations and a framework for reflection for all actors engaged in creating, implementing or revising laws on community forestry, and for civil society in particular.