The value of forests – our natural heritage, a living cultural heritage

We at Naturarvet are delighted and grateful Naturarvet Margareta Ihse, professor emerita at the Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, has agreed to share her thoughts on forests with us and our readers. As the first female doctor of physical geography, associate professor, and professor of ecological geography, she has contributed to, among other things, improved satellite images of landscapes and vegetation for both the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authority. In addition, Margareta is a member of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's Scientific Council for Biological Diversity and has been vice-president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, a member of King Carl XVI Gustaf's 50th Anniversary Fund for Science, Technology and the Environment, a member of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation's national board and a member of WWF. Her contributions to understanding and knowledge of biodiversity, nature, and landscapes have greatly influenced how many people in our society today understand and view the value of forests.

The value of forests – our natural heritage, a living cultural heritage

A personal reflection on the values of the forest by Margareta Ihse

"Those who listen to the rustling of the forest as children will inherit something different than those who were born on a street."

Verner von Heidenstam wrote this more than a hundred years ago. What shapes us in childhood stays with us unconsciously throughout our lives. The rustling of the forest gives us a different feeling, a different understanding, and a different connection to the forest than the noise of the street. When Verner Heidenstam wrote this, many people had their own experience of the rustling of the forest, as 75 percent lived in the countryside. Today, over 90 percent live in cities and towns, and most people therefore have no forest heritage. I believe this may be an important reason why the debate about the forest is so heated today, as both a deep understanding and personal knowledge of the feeling of the forest have disappeared for many people. The forest becomes just a backdrop, a landscape to be viewed, which you drive through.

My ethical principles mean that we must use the Earth's resources carefully and with respect for living things, that we have a responsibility to future generations, and that we must not consume resources during our lifetime. Since I was a child, I have roamed in the forest, in different kinds of forests: delicate beech forests, light birch groves, blueberry-rich spruce forests, and mushroom-rich mixed forests. "The rustle of the forest" is an essential part of my life. My roots are in the forest. In the forest, I find peace and security, joy and inspiration. The old trees of the forest give me perspective on time, on my own life.

Linne said, "If you don't know the names, your knowledge of things will also disappear." Knowing the names of what I see in the forest gives me a deeper experience and is a great joy, feeling at home when you recognize the common species around you, but also the joy of finding new or rare species. I experience the forest so much more intensely. With knowledge, you gain a broader understanding of the forest's ecosystem services and the connections and complexity of the forest. Knowledge of species is no longer common knowledge for many people today. But you don't need to know species to love and value the forest. The forest is valuable in so many ways, but often only its economic value is highlighted. People forget or ignore the biological, ethical, and aesthetic values in particular. When economic interests dominate, the value of the forest becomes only what the trees are worth at the moment. The other parts of the forest ecosystem are as if they did not exist. But the forest is so much more than trees; many people do not see the forest for the trees.

In the same way that one could say that the beauty of a work of art lies in the eyes of the beholder, I would argue that the value of the forest lies in the knowledge of the beholder. And despite all the knowledge and research, our understanding of ecological values and biodiversity is very limited, far too poorly understood, and completely undervalued.

I would like to delve a little deeper into biological values, or biodiversity. Biodiversity is a difficult concept, but it has been well known since the 1980s and is used in international negotiations, even though it is not an everyday word for most of us. The discussion about biodiversity in Sweden has often focused solely on endangered species and how these endangered species are hindering the development of society, such as the small orchid in the forest and the salamander in the ponds. Biological diversity is so much more than endangered species. It is variation between species, which means that there are many different species that are good at different things; usually not so many of each species, but many different ones. It is also the variation within species, i.e., genetic variation, and the variation between ecosystems, the natural habitats that provide living conditions, habitats, for different plants and animals, mammals, birds, butterflies, and insects, and also what we do not see, the mycelium of fungi under the trees and all the bacteria, fungi, and microscopic animals in the soil. Many of the species, such as the iconic white-backed woodpecker, are a kind of indicator species, which show through their choice of habitat that the biotope has great variation and great value for many other species as well. We know quite a bit about endangered species and how they should be protected. But endangered species are only a fraction of all the species needed to create a functional, robust, and resilient ecosystem—an ecosystem that can withstand disturbances and rebuild itself if destroyed. It is insurance for the future.

All species of biodiversity are like threads in the hammock of life. If the hammock is dense and woven from many threads, it will carry us safely and for a long time, and we can rest secure. But if we constantly weaken it and pull out one thread after another, by exterminating species or making them endangered, we do not know when the fabric will break. Our power to exterminate other species, through ignorance or indifference, is a threat to life itself.Overall, species diversity is the fundamental prerequisite for our society, the basis for our economy, and the foundation for long-term sustainable development. And yet we do not value it.

Different species have different functions in an ecosystem, and we know quite a lot about how they interact, but we are still far from understanding how this complex system works. And no matter how skilled we are as engineers and biologists, we cannot replicate such natural systems. We cannot even make a simple little birch tree (as Tage Danielsson once said). We can neither build plants, as photosynthesis does from sun, air, and water, nor break down organisms into their constituent parts so that they can be reused as building blocks in a cycle. However, we do know a great deal about the organisms that perform this free service for ecosystems: beetles, flies, fungi, and bacteria. If they did not exist, dead animals and animal waste would remain in the forests. The forest ecosystem does not act like us; it does not leave mountains of waste behind, and it works over long periods of time—hundreds of years or more. Yet we are not concerned about the habitats of these species when we manage the forest as we do today, with clear-cutting and monoculture plantations.

Humans are part of nature, and we cannot live without what ecosystems produce for us. We are at the top of the food pyramid and depend on all the plants and animals below us. In order to meet our basic physical needs for food and drink, clothing, and shelter, we must obtain resources from nature. It is therefore absolutely essential that ecosystems continue to function. Their function cannot be maintained without the building blocks, i.e., the species—and thus biodiversity.

For me, biodiversity provides the fundamental conditions for our society, from the beginning and for many generations to come, indeed for our entire future. Our predecessors gave those of us living today the conditions to deal with different situations and have our needs met, by not depleting the diversity of species. People have lived in Sweden for at least 6,000 years. Today, we are depleting our capital, our stock of natural resources and species, and we are not replacing it at all, or only very poorly. We have an ethical responsibility to give future generations the same opportunities that we ourselves have had, i.e. to preserve and maintain diversity as insurance and a resource in an uncertain future, even if we do not know the benefits of it today.

We have not inherited the forest from our parents; we are borrowing it from our children.

/Margareta Ihse