Week 292. Today we are several people and groups protesting in Sundsvall, Sweden, outside SCA’s AGM. Forestry is Sweden's single largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and the main driving factor behind loss of habitat and species. 1/12
SCA is Europe’s largest private forest owner, and we are demanding an end to their systematic clearcutting of irreplaceable natural forests with high importance for climate and biodiversity. After the demonstration, some of us went inside the AGM to demand accountability. 2/12
SCAs forestry is built on systematically expanding into the last remaining natural forests, forests whose conditions are vital for many species and which have stored carbon for up to thousands of years and thus both slow down and act as protection against the climate crisis. 3/12
These ecosystems are then destroyed to make place for the replanting of environmentally harmful monocultural tree plantations. Often, these monocultures consist of invasive lodgepole pine, which is devastating for indigenous Sámi reindeer herding. 4/12
Forest companies, despite their claims, don't consult with Sami villages on equal terms, and can more or less freely log due to loopholes in laws that they use to their advantage. The Sámi are heavily affected by both the climate crisis & industries like mining & forestry. 5/12
All these factors are extensions of the colonialism that has been going on in Sweden in Sápmi for centuries. Clearcutting is also a climate bomb. The carbon emitted during clearcuts takes many decades for the replanted trees to reabsorb. This is time we do not have. 6/12
After harvesting the majority of the biomass goes to short-lived products and bioenergy with a higher carbon footprint than burning fossil fuels. Biofuels are nevertheless seen by many as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, much to the delight of the forest lobby. 7/12
Namely, they are the ones who have largely created and spread this greenwashed narrative, there are enormous financial interests to benefit. The burning of biomass leads to more carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy than other fossil fuels. 8/12