Jelka-Rimakåbbå, one of western Europe’s largest unprotected forest areas, was designated in January 2005 as a Natura 2000 area by the European Commission, bringing to a successful conclusion almost 20 years of local, national and international campaigning for its protection.
Jelka-Rimakåbbå
The Jelka-Rimakåbbå is part of one of Sweden’s largest unfragmented old-growth forest landscapes, covering 1500 km2 of forests, wetlands, lakes and treeless mountains. The area is situated in the municipality of Jokkmokk in northern Sweden. Jelka-Rimakåbbå is the easternmost part of this landscape and has therefore been under comparatively high pressure for exploitation. The area contains significant amounts of threatened species, and 30,000 trees with both of the threatened lichens Evernia divaricata and Evernia mesomorpha. Jelka-Rimakåbbå’s wildlife includes typical taiga species such as the Siberian jay, three-toed woodpecker, Siberian tit, golden eagle, little bunting, Whooper swan, waxwing, brown bear and wolverine.
A History of Victories and Losses
The state-owned old-growth forest area came under the attention of local forest activists in the middle of the 1980s. The local forest group Steget Före, One Step Ahead, was very active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, conducting old-growth forest inventories in the municipality. The group became internationally known for its methodology of using red-listed fungi and lichens as indicator species for signalling valuable forest areas. The Steget Före inventory concept has thereafter spread throughout the boreal world. The inventories of voluntary forest activists revealed unique conservation values in the old-growth forests in the Jokkmokk area including comparatively intact populations of endangered forest species. The findings of the Steget Före group led to the protection of parts of the Jelka-Rimakåbbå area in 1989. However, the areas protected at this time were the least productive parts that were not really threatened by forestry. During subsequent years the state forest company Domänverket built new forest roads and carried out logging in central parts of the area. There has been no logging since 1992, but the landowner and the conservation authorities were reluctant to take steps towards the long-term protection of the remaining 400 km2 of unprotected forestland.
The fate of Jelka-Rimakåbbå received national and international attention at an early stage. National NGOs, such as the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and WWF, campaigned for the area and Jelka-Rimakåbbå was for many years one of TRN’s campaign hotspots. The histories of the Jelka-Rimakåbbå campaign and TRN are intertwined. In 1992 an excursion took forest activists, indigenous people representatives, scientists and journalists from around the world to the area. The activists had gathered in the nearby village of Jokkmokk for a conference highlighting the status of the world’s boreal forests and peoples: the founding conference of TRN.
In the summer of 1994 more than 120 young people from all over Europe gathered at an international youth forest camp highlighting the international importance of the Jelka-Rimakåbbå area. Another international camp took place in 1999, once more highlighting the need for permanent protection of the area.
During the 1990s the national youth NGO Fältbiologerna carried out a substantial private fundraising campaign, Urskog 2000, highlighting the Swedish government’s insufficient funding for forest protection. Fältbiologerna’s campaign began because of the threats against the Jelka area and contributed to the protection of a number of Swedish old-growth forest areas.
EU Demands
After joining the European Union (EU) in 1995 Sweden suddenly had to fulfil the requirements of the EU Birds and Habitat Directives, the most important part of which was the creation of the Natura 2000 network of sites to protect habitats and species of European interest, amongst them boreal forests. The Swedish government began this process with low ambitions, listing mostly already protected areas. However, during the last few years the European Commssion has asked Sweden to include very many more areas. An important factor behind this has been lobbying by WWF and other NGOs, such as the Swedish Botanical Association. In 2000 WWF developed a shadow list of areas to be included in the Natura 2000 network, including Jelka-Rimakåbbå. The Swedish authorities have been more or less forced to include many of the areas on the shadow list, of which Jelka-Rimakåbbå was by far the biggest.
Outlook
Jelka-Rimakåbbå’s designation as a Natura 2000 site means strong legal protection. It should be noted that the Natura 2000 site includes small areas of young pine and exotic lodgepole pine plantations, and so active restoration measures will probably be needed in order to convert them to more natural vegetation.
The positive news about Jelka-Rimakåbbå comes at a time when the position of nature conservation interests is under increased pressure, with many politicians and representatives of the forest industry actively campaigning against the protection of more old-growth forest areas in northern Sweden. This is despite the fact that a recent inventory has identified many unprotected areas of old-growth forests. The future for many other large unprotected forest areas with high conservation values looks very uncertain at the moment.
Invitation to Jelka-Rimakåbbå!
The Jokkmokk Steget Före group sends greetings to everybody who has taken part over the years in the various campaign activities that have finally led to the legal protection of the entire Jelka-Rimakåbbå area. The area is excellently suited for hiking and you are most welcome to come and experience this part of the Scandinavian taiga for yourself.
Per Larsson WWF Sweden, Per.Larsson@wwf.se
Mats Karström Steget Före, Jokkmokk, Sweden, Mats.Karstrom@snf.se
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