Researching resilience in Swedish forest management
The project Resilient Innovation and Sustainable Knowledge for Swedish Forest Management in the Anthropocene examines forests managed under the Swedish Forest Management Approach (SFMA) and how well this model supports resilience under increasing pressure from climate-related and systemic risks.
Swedish forests are central to Sweden’s sustainability goals, economy, and carbon storage. At the same time, climate extremes and ecological disturbances are becoming more frequent and interconnected, creating uncertainty about future forest conditions. These dynamics raise important questions about how current management and governance approaches support long-term resilience.
In the Anthropocene — the age of significant human influence on the Earth system — environmental change is rapid and interconnected. Forest resilience, understood as the capacity to cope with disturbance, recover, and adapt, is therefore becoming an increasingly important consideration for forest management and policy.
SIWI research linking water, forests, and policy
At SIWI, Anna Tengberg, PhD and Malin Lundberg Ingemarsson, PhD are carrying out research within the project, focusing on forest–water–climate interactions and their implications for governance and policy. Their work contributes to SIWI’s portfolio on green water, landscape approaches, and the role of knowledge in supporting adaptive decision-making under uncertainty.
One outcome of the project will be the development of an online tool to support local adaptive planning for resilience in forest management. The tool will be developed in dialogue with the Swedish Forest Agency and representatives from the forest industry, with the aim of supporting learning, collaboration, and practical use by forest owners and forest associations.
The project strengthens SIWI’s knowledge and research pillar and contributes evidence that can inform policy pathways for resilient land and water management in a changing climate.
