Now she is releasing revelations about industry, researchers, double roles and threats in a book about the forest in our neighboring country. The protests that aroused the journalist came from the stumps of old forest in Norrland: “The forest companies are destroying our reindeer grazing areas”, was the headline in Aftonbladet, late autumn 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. People from 29 Sami villages signed the critical post. PROTEST: The Sami, the tourism industry and the environmental movement joined forces against the forest industry. The harvest destroyed the species and reindeer husbandry for nature, they warned. Photo: Anette Nantell / DN / TT / TT NYHETSBYRÅNPhoto: Anette Nantell / DN / TT / TT NYHETSBYRÅN Lisa Röstlund, 42 and mother of two, had been taken from Aftonbladet to Dagens Nyheter . She read the post with budding curiosity. “In one generation, almost all forest land is clear-cut and prepared,” the Sami wrote. They pointed out that ecosystems and forests were destroyed and replaced by “pine plantations”. Röstlund saw a neglected area in journalism. A place she had never thought of digging before: In the woods. GRAVER IN THE FOREST: Lisa Röstlund has previously been nominated for the Grand Journalist Award for revelations at Nya Karolinska Hospital. “The real forest” Much of state-owned Sveaskog’s forestry lay on the reindeer’s pasture. Areas they had used for thousands of years. Long before the clear-cutting, the Sami pointed out. At the same time, a man called Dagens Nyheter in Stockholm. He had run tourism since the 80s in Norrland. The newspaper had to come, he urged. – You do not understand. They’re taking the last real forest, he thought. The last forests? Was not this land a single great forest? Lisa Röstlund had investigated hospitals, schools, oil companies, abuse cases and right-wing extremists. But not the forest. Sweden’s oil. She saw the forest as just trees. Forest was forest, Röstlund thought. AS A STRANGER: – It is unbelievable, Henrik Säva told Dagens Nyheter about the clear-cutting. He did not recognize the landscape. Photo: Anette Nantell / DN / TT / TT NEWS AGENCY Until she went to Muonio and heard the Sami stories. The domino piece They despaired over the weathering basis of life. The climate changed. The reindeer’s food was encapsulated. The animals struggled to find the ground lichen under the ice on the ground. Disappeared also made the reindeer emergency supplies. Hengelav. In old forest. Forests that were felled. For the first time, the Sami had to drive in feed for the reindeer in trucks. UNREST: Henrik Sevä worries about traditional reindeer husbandry. Reinen Blue is used in tourism. Photo: Anette Nantell / DN / TT / TT NEWS AGENCYPhoto: Anette Nantell / DN / TT / TT NEWS AGENCY – They did not live in step with nature as before. Then I really started thinking, says Röstlund. For the Sami, the forest with the lichen was the real and correct one. Old forest. Artsrik. Forest that was allowed to stand in peace. And died by. Not the one planted. Forest with dense, straight lines. Trees of the same age, equally tall. Or, as the Sami considered the forests, as plantations. Röstlund confronted Sveaskog. Most Sami were satisfied with the cooperation, Sveaskog thought, and they claimed to adapt to the Sami. But they took the Sami’s criticism “very seriously”, said the forest policy chief. In a village, the dialogue had cut itself, he admitted, they were going to enter into dialogue. But Röstlund did not calm down. For her, the Sami story seemed like an indicator. An alarm clock. – It was as if the first domino piece fell. RÖSTLUND THINKS: – How should we fix climate and nature crises at the same time as acute, personal crises? Because if the reindeer did not find food, she thought, what about other species? She started calling researchers. “The landscape is changing” Research showed that since 1970, 70 percent of the forest land where lichen can grow had disappeared. The forest industry planted new and dense. Low needed light, noted the researcher behind the study. Since 1950, 60 percent of the Swedish forest has been cleared, according to the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). With the help of researchers, DN came to the conclusion how much the harvest ate from the reindeer’s grazing area in Norrland. For the last 20 years, an area as large as Gotland, Sweden’s largest island, has been felled. – Large parts of the landscape have been changed, says Lisa Röstlund. SHOWS THE WORLD: The award-winning nature photographer Marcus Westberg is known for images of environmental interventions and endangered species worldwide. Quite recently, he started documenting what Sweden does with its forests. The photos were published in The Guardian. Photo: Marcus Westberg Photo: Marcus Westberg – This has gone so fast. Without debate. Unbelievable enough, say the journalists. She looked at species data. They were more than the lichen that struggled. Thousands of Nordic and Swedish forest species risk disappearing in the long term. – Even something as common as blueberries decreased sharply. Röstlund was driven to dig deeper. The Sami investigation, tourism and the environmental movement criticized the industry’s felling, she wrote in the winter of 2021. After the first report, the tips hailed. A lot of articles followed. One of the things she found was: Forest cooperatives broke their own environmental rules. Without losing the certificate for felling, Röstlund’s investigation showed. Shortly afterwards, one of the peaks in Sveaskog had to stop. Röstlund showed how researchers argue about forestry as a climate measure. Then also how much the industry lobbied to increase forestry for climate reasons. A message aimed at Swedish politicians, the EU and school children. Röstlund told about migrant workers who felt exploited by the forest industry and the church. The cases inspired the founding of the church party “Heaven and Earth”. They are now working for sustainable forestry. In the early autumn of 2021, Lisa Röstlund had dug a year and a half in the forest. Dagens Nyheter had published 50 critical articles about industry and researchers. Then came a counterattack she had never imagined. The opposition Skogsindustrierna, the industry’s own organization, paid the Business Media Institute NOK 80,000 to investigate DN. They thought Röstlund’s work was one-sided: “DN never investigates how property rights and socio-economic values are threatened by restrictions on forestry”, they emphasized. Fact errors were not detected. They followed up with Facebook posts about Röstlund’s work: “Dagens Nyheter’s Lisa Röstlund speculates about an advocacy campaign”. The forest industry lacked a holistic perspective, the head of the business policy department writes to news. Therefore, they wanted Röstlund’s coverage «analyzed». SUPPORTED: – It is difficult for reporters who are exposed to what Lisa Röstlund (pictured) experiences, says Anna Åberg, editor in chief of DN. They never reported the articles to the Media Ethics Committee. The body that processes complaints about the media. The editor-in-chief of Dagens Nyheter sees the “counter-investigation” as an attempt to silence an investigative reporter. She describes the attack on individual reporters, trying to create distrust around their work, as a worrying development. The newspaper’s management is “one hundred percent” behind its investigative reporter. Röstlund has experienced hatred in social media before. And she received death threats from some trolls when she investigated right-wing extremist circles. But this is something else, she says, and at least as tough. – An entire industry, the heavy forestry industry, has joined forces against me. It feels uncomfortable. She believes Sweden needs a more open discussion about the forest. FOREST LAND: Nature photographer Marcus Westberg shows what the landscape looks like after clear-cutting and field preparation. Photo: Marcus Westberg – I get scared and restless. Not for myself, but for society and nature. My picture of Sweden has changed. What shook her Röstlund is clear on what has shaken her the most. – A large part of forest research is funded by the industry, she points out, and adds: – Profiles in research have sat on boards of forest companies or worked as consultants for the industry. Until I revealed them, says Röstlund. Some still have their assignments, she points out, they work for forest companies and are also professors at Swedish universities. – There’s a place I’m scared of. For this touches on the most serious challenges of our time. Anxiety Climate anxiety gripped her. And while the digging was at its most intense, the tower towered privately. With cohabitation crisis. A daughter who struggled to make friends at school. In addition, she herself got cancer. – I got total fear of death, even though the cancer was at an early stage. It struck her how distant the climate and nature crisis was in the face of its own storms and fires. She pondered how man would be able to fix the globe. And she the investigation of the forest. PEACE: Lisa Röstlund’s small terraced house is located close to the Nackare reserve on the outskirts of Stockholm. She seeks the forest for peace. – Everyone is affected by serious personal crises. Then it is difficult to focus on the survival of the earth and humanity, she says. But the marriage lasted. The cancer was operated on. The daughter made friends. And even after 60 articles in Dagens Nyheter, Lisa Röstlund would not give up. – The forest and the industry have hardly been investigated, she says. She has interviewed 248 people. Analyzed data. Plowed through kilos of official documents. And carved in to the secret stamps. Everything will soon reach its climax on over 300 book pages. With “Skogslandet – an investigation”, she promises new revelations. Partly with controversial methods. – I hope they are received as the scandals they are. “Considered extremists” The kitchen is wallpapered with a motif of trees. The paper newspaper is on the table. Lisa Röstlund also in coffee. She is sitting at the far end of the chair. Excited but prepared. A WAKE UP: Lisa Röstlund hopes the book opens people’s eyes to the Swedish forest. She hopes the book opens the eyes of ordinary people. That they see that forests are not just forests. She thinks the industry will fine-tune every word. And again go into clinch. – People who try to give nature a voice are quickly considered extremists, says Röstlund, which she also illustrates in the book. A consultant in the forest industry compares conservationists with IS extremists. She has taped the documentation. She also takes readers to a village. There an immigrant loves the forest. He joins the Nature Conservation Association, searches and finds an endangered species. Then there will be trouble. Eventually, he himself is threatened. Endangered species RELEASE BOOK: Lisa Röstlund writes, among other things, about threats against researchers who come with “unwanted knowledge”. The nature conservationist sends Röstlund a secret audio recording. There she hears that the forest owners perceive the nature conservationist as an informant. One says to him: “You should have read some history and know what reporting causes in a small village and what it can lead to in the long run. When you had informants during World War II or in the Balkans, it did not end well, did it? ” Röstlund continues to listen: “You should be aware that this has consequences”, she hears the forest owner say to the nature conservationist. Before, he felt safe. Now he looks over his shoulder in the woods. For safety’s sake, he wears a screaming, yellow reflective jacket, writes Lisa Röstlund, and: «… so that none of the hunting-armed forest owners can claim that he was shot because he was not seen. … ». Do you have thoughts about the forest? We are on our way into the forest – to watch interesting things happening there! Do you have any tips for us? Do not hesitate to send us an email!
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The Swedish journalist Lisa Röstlund examined the forest and the industry. – Climate
