Sustainability barriers in nordic forestry: A systematic review

Highlights • We reviewed sustainability challenges that Nordic forests faced from 2019 to 2024. • Data was assessed using a PICO framework, ROSES protocol, and content analysis. • Environmental barriers outweigh economic and social ones in Nordic forest systems. • ESG professionals appeared most often across studies in the Nordic forest context. • Future opportunities lie in forest management, biomass use, and knowledge creation. Nordic forests are important carbon sinks for climate change mitigation, signaled in forest policies aimed at sustainability transitions to deliver multiple ecosystem services. However, the pressures of transitioning can be challenging to many stakeholders, risking efforts to preserve biodiversity and ensure a competitive forest-based value chain. This study aims to review the sustainability challenges that Nordic forests face and determine future solutions according to recent scientific literature. Using a cross-sectional study, we screened publications scoping the period 2019–2024 that focused on the sustainable use and management of forests in Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. A total of 8303 studies from Scopus and Web of Science were systematically reviewed using the PICO and ROSES protocols, of which 151 met our inclusion criteria. The results show a majority of articles on environmental barriers focused on biodiversity conservation. Most economic barriers were found in articles discussing economic development, while the social barriers were found mainly in articles on social relations in forestry. Our analysis suggests future opportunities for improving avenues for the use and management of Nordic forests by (a) prioritizing biodiversity conservation under thriving forest management conditions, (b) reinforcing compliance with sustainability standards that limit unsustainable sourcing of biomass, and (c) encouraging knowledge access and exchange between forest owners and service providers.