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Swedish forest and environmental policies imply that forests should be managed so that all naturally occurring species are maintained in viable populations. This requires maintenance of functional networks of representative natural forest and cultural woodland habitats. We first review the policy implementation process regarding protected areas in Sweden 1991â2010, how ecological knowledge was used to formulate interim short-term and strategic long-term biodiversity conservation goals, and the development of a hierarchical spatial planning approach. Second, we present data about the amount of formally protected and voluntarily set aside forest stands, and evaluate how much remains in terms of additional forest protection, conservation management and habitat restoration to achieve forest and environmental policy objectives in the long-term. Third, a case study in central Sweden was made to estimate the functionality of old Scots pine, Norway spruce and deciduous forest habitats, as well as cultural woodland, in different forest regions. Finally, we assess operational biodiversity conservation planning processes. We conclude that Swedish policy pronouncements capture the contemporary knowledge about biodiversity and conservation planning well. However, the existing area of protected and set-aside forests is presently too small and with too poor connectivity. To bridge this gap, spatial planning, management and restoration of habitat, as well as collaboration among forest and conservation planners need to be improved.

Spatial segregation of different forest landscape functions can accommodate rival forestry objectives more comprehensively than integrated approaches. Russia has a unique history of forest zoning separating production and environmental functions. However, the Russian Forest Code of 2006 increased the focus on wood production. We reviewed the history of zoning policy in Russia and assessed if the recent policy change affected logging rates and conservation of riparian forests. Using Russia's Komi Republic as a case study, we specifically assessed (i) if policy change led to increased logging near streams, (ii) if logging rates were different in headwaters vs. main rivers, and (iii) how logging changed among catchments with different accessibility to logging. Using a global open-access remote sensing dataset, we compared mean annual forest loss as a proxy of logging rates in 10 large forested catchments in the Komi Republic in one period with strict zoning policy (2000-2006) and one with moderate zoning policy (2007-2014). Harvesting rate was positively related to the distance from streams. On the other hand, it increased after the policy change in the buffer zone but decreased outside it. Forests were harvested more in headwater buffers than along larger rivers, and harvest in the catchments near industries was higher and increasing; remote catchments had low forest loss. We discuss the opportunity for adopting forest zoning policy in different governance contexts. Key words: forest policy change, sustainable forest management, Komi Republic, zoning, spatial planning. La segregation spatiale des differentes fonctions de la foret permet de mieux concilier les objectifs forestiers divergents que les approches integrees. La Russie a une histoire unique de zonage forestier qui separe les fonctions de production et les fonctions environnementales. Cependant, le regime forestier russe de 2006 a mis davantage l'accent sur la production de bois. Nous passons en revue l'historique de la politique de zonage en Russie et nous evaluons si le changement recent de politique a eu un impact sur les taux de recolte et la conservation des forets riveraines. En prenant la Republique russe des Komis comme etude de cas, nous avons specifiquement evalue (i) si le changement de politique a entraine une augmentation de la coupe pres des cours d'eau, (ii) si le taux de recolte a ete different le long des cours superieur et principal des rivieres et (iii) de quelle facon la coupe a evolue parmi les bassins versants selon leur accessibilite pour l'exploitation. A l'aide d'un ensemble de donnees de teledetection mondiales librement accessibles, nous avons compare les pertes annuelles de foret a titre d'indicateur du taux de recolte dans 10 grands bassins versants de la Republique des Komis durant une periode (2000-2006) ou la politique de zonage etait stricte et une autre periode (2007-2014) ou elle etait plus souple. Le taux de recolte etait positivement relie a la distance depuis les cours d'eau. D'autre part, apres que la politique eut change le taux de recolte a augmente dans la zone tampon mais a diminue a l'exterieur de cette zone. Les forets situees dans la zone tampon en amont des cours d'eau ont ete davantage recoltees que les forets situees le long des cours d'eau plus larges et la recolte dans les bassins situes pres des industries a ete plus abondante et allait en augmentant; les bassins eloignes ont connu les plus faibles pertes de foret. Nous discutons de l'opportunite d'adopter une politique de zonage forestier dans differents contextes de gouvernance. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: changement de politique forestiere, Republique des Komis, zonage, planification spatiale., Introduction The benefits of forests on the European continent vary with time and space. At the beginning of the 19th century, sustained-yield forestry had already been developed in Central Europe [...]