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Swedish Press N Y A
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September 2020 Vol 91:07 $5.95
Allemansrätten – The Freedom to Roam in Sweden
07 2020
COVID-19 Update Interview with Renata Chlumska Surströmming
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ANNA FURNESS, CEO OF SKOGSENTREPRENÖRERNA
Taking Care of the Forest and the Trees By Sofie Kinnefors
Anna Furness. All photos: Skogsentreprenörerna
Swedish Association of Forestry Contractors (Skogsentreprenörerna) is tasked with supporting professional business owners working in and for the Swedish forest industry. Skogsentreprenörerna’s objectives are to ensure the health and well-being of an independent and profitable forest industry while respecting and maintaining Sweden’s highly regarded forestry. Swedish Press spoke to Anna Furness, CEO for Skogsentreprenörerna, about member benefits, the “Freedom to Roam“, and why she fell in love with the forest.
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ith a slogan which for many years read “Din kompis i skogen” (Your friend in the forest), it is perhaps no surprise that Skogsentreprenörerna (SE), its employees and CEO care deeply not only for its members, but also about Nature and the forest industry. The company, which currently represents 70 percent of Sweden’s professional forestry contractors within the logging, silviculture and planning sectors, offers many benefits to its members. “We operate by offering advice, support and training packages in finance, law and management to members and other actors within forestry,” says Furness. “We also advice and support member negotiations and offer access to tools to facilitate our members’ businesses.” Furness describes how being selfemployed can be quite lonely. “Through Skogsentreprenörerna, members become part of one of Sweden’s and forestry’s strongest network for small businesses. They also gain access to an invaluable network.” Skogsentreprenörerna is headquartered in Stockholm but operates out of 25 Swedish locations, or so-
called sections, ranging from Hässleholm in Skåne to Överkalix in Norrbotten. Each section has its own board and chairman. Skogsentreprenörerna’s members regularly receive current information needed to run their forest companies through Skogsentreprenörerna’s magazine, emails and letters. Members are also encouraged to participate in the organization’s fairs and to connect with employees. “Our employees offer professional guidance in questions concerning the industry,” says Furness. She has worked as CEO for Skogsentreprenörerna since 2014. Her interest in Nature developed at an early age. “My attraction for the environment started during long walks in the countryside with my paternal grandmother. We picked all the flowers we could find! I also enjoyed listening to poetry and melancholic folk songs about the forest. Visa vid midsommartid (Du lindar av olvon en midsommarkrans) is a Swedish song from 1946 by Håkan Norlén and Rune Lindström. It was, and always will be, a favorite of mine.” Furness realized she wanted to become a forester during a school visit to “Skogens hus” at Stockholm’s outdoor museum Skansen. “We were introduced to a man who told us about the forest. He was a forester. I clearly remember the relief I felt when, at the age of ten, I understood that one could actually work with forestry as an adult.” The Stockholm native went on to study to be a forester at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, and to receive a Master’s Degree in industrial economy at The Faculty of Engineering, Department of Energy Sciences, in Lund. She also studied forestry engineering and management at The University of British Columbia in Vancouver for a year.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ANNA FURNESS, CEO OF SKOGSENTREPRENÖRERNA
“I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. Both of my parents worked in real estate, construction and management. Entrepreneurship is in my genes, and I was fascinated when I realized that our Swedish forest value chain is based upon entrepreneurs and family enterprises. Often people think of the forest as being owned by ‘a couple of big company giants’. However, all the operative work in our forests is done by individual business owners. Forest owners and family enterprises possess half of the productive forest land in Sweden.” Before taking on her current position at Skogsentreprenörerna, Furness did research on the forest value chain at Skogforsk in Uppsala – a central research body for the Swedish forestry sector. She also worked at the Swedish Institute for Standards, SIS. When hired by Skogsentreprenörerna, Furness’ mission as CEO was clear. “My task is to create a more professional business association, and to position the forest entrepreneur as the central player it is today. I represent and showcase all of the knowledge that our business possesses, so that it benefits our entrepreneurs.” For an association of forest contractors, the environment and its well-being are crucial. The freedom to
roam (Allemansrätten), which gives everyone access to Nature in Sweden, is supported by the organization. “Skogsentreprenörerna is part of the vitally important Swedish Forestry Industry, which means that we have a huge responsibility to balance productivity and caring for Mother Nature. We work to create a sustainable and efficient forestry while considering what is environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable. Protecting the environment for future generations is essential,” says Furness. She continues, “I am proud of the freedom to roam in Sweden. The right does, however, come with responsibilities which must be respected. I also wish that more people would take part in the freedom to roam and what Nature has to offer.” Like most corporations today, Skogsentreprenörerna is dealing with the current pandemic. Communicating with members about how to care for their business during the spread of Covid-19 is going to be a priority this fall and winter. “Last spring was highly uncertain for our members. We have put a major effort into giving advice and webinars via Microsoft Teams. Our focus has been supporting members in how to proactively care for their companies
in times of uncertainty. We have done better than we expected, but the future is something we can’t predict in regard to how the Swedish forest industry will be affected in the long term. We are concerned because our industry is extremely dependent today on exports, especially pulp. Skogsentreprenörerna will also focus on new general agreements and on a revision of the industry’s Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) standard.”
Furness loves spending time outdoors with her family, but also by herself. “I visit the forest as soon as I get the opportunity, preferably on a hill somewhere in Roslagen, Uppland. I’ll enjoy a coffee amongst white moss and distorted hundred-year-old pines.” Furness spent her summer vacation in the Stockholm archipelago. What the forest-loving CEO brings to read at the beach should come as no surprise. “In my beach basket lays the latest issue from the American Loggers Association. The world is not that big and we always have something to learn from each other.” For more information about Skogsentreprenörerna and how to become a member, visit www.skogsentreprenorerna.se.
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The Perspective of Hans Strand – Landscape Photographer By Kristi Robinson
Above: The streams of silt and iron oxide flow into surreal turquoise water in the River Delta. Bottom right: An aerial photograph of the River Delta in Iceland.
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he abstractness and colors of his images take you to a place of awe and incredulity. From up to four hundred meters in the air, photographer Hans Strand captures aerial shots of landscapes with his Hasselblad camera that defy our understanding of scale, and our common perception of what the world looks like at ground level. Sitting in a small plane or helicopter, he photographs chromatic rivers, icy mountain ranges and glacial waterfalls. Yet his images taken at ground level are equally captivating, showing nature’s raw splendour. Even though he is a master in aerial photography, Hans says his favorite thing to photograph is the forest, and he feels this is where
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his connection to nature is most intense. It doesn’t matter where the forest is, but in Sweden Hans is particularly drawn to the forests in Jämtland. Hans’ passion for landscape photography was ignited during a trip to Yosemite National Park when he was a student at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. He explained that when looking through the viewfinder he found some kind of magic. Now, almost forty years later, it appears that this magic is still with him and is channeled into his photographs for all to experience. Much of Hans’ work through the years has been focused on Iceland. He began going there in 1995 before Iceland became the popular tourist destination it is today. Making a number of trips every year, he photographs and runs photography workshops in locations off the beaten
‘Highland Gully’ captures the sombre mood of the early summer rain in one of Iceland’s highland valleys.
track. His work in Iceland has culminated in two books, ‘Above and Below’, and ‘Island’ (German for ‘Iceland’). Hans has also had a number of other books published, one of which was last year in collaboration with Swedish film producer Bo Landin titled ‘Fotavtryck” (‘Footprints’). ‘Fotavtryck’ is about the environmental footprint we are all making and discusses the obstacles we have to overcome to make the world sustainable.
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All through his years of aerial photography, Hans has tried to avoid manmade elements and only capture natural environments. After witnessing what was happening to the ground below – the destruction of plants and animals and manipulation of the wilderness into manmade land – it became virtually impossible for him to ignore it. In 2017, he began a project photographing the Rio Tinto River draining from the mine of the same name in Andalusia, Spain. His shocking and oddly stunning aerial images show toxic water making its way through the landscape, polluting everything in its path before draining into the Atlantic Ocean. Hans has also started working on a manmade land project in Spain where he photographs areas that were once so biodiverse. These have either been taken over by monocultural farming, or have become densely built up, as in Almería where the city’s peninsula has been transformed into hundreds of square miles of plastic greenhouses. Hans’ manmade project will be turned into a book, and an exhibition in Spain in 2021. Once travel becomes a possibility Hans plans to run photography workshops in Iceland, Greenland, Sweden, Norway, and the Alps. To see more of Hans’ stunning landscape photography visit www.hansstrand.se instagram.com/hansstrandofficial/
Top right: ‘Colors of Poison VII’, the most polluted river in the world, the Rio Tinto, displays its toxicity in a rainbow of colors. Bottom right: ‘Highland Colors’. An aerial shot of the Icelandic Highlands in the early summer. All photos © Hans Strand
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