Nature conservation efforts for increased biodiversity
In the Kuosajänkkä area just outside Svappavaara a long-term initiative is under way to enhance biodiversity and compensate for the impact of mining activities.
Efforts include placement of dead wood, mire haymaking and controlled burning for nature conservation. Around 800 logs have been placed out that, during their decomposition, will become homes for a variety of fungi, mosses, lichens and insects. Although the wood has been there barely 10 years, it has already been colonised – including by several different bracket fungi that are rare in today’s forest landscape. There are also large wetland areas where mire haymaking was carried out until the mid-20th century. This cultural tradition has been revived and new haymaking sheds have been built. Haymaking prevents plants such as wetland sedge from outcompeting other species, instead allowing orchids and rarer mosses space to grow. LKAB has signed a 50-year agreement with the landowner, with regular inventories being taken to monitor development of the natural environments during this time.
CLIMB – an award-winning tool for measuring biodiversity
This year saw the launch of CLIMB, a cross-industry model for measuring and evalatuing biodiversity that LKAB helped to develop. The tool was awarded the Sustainability Achievement of the Year 2023 by Sweden’s Network for Sustainable Business (Nätverket för Hållbart Näringsliv). The jury particularly emphasised that CLIMB has been made freely available to everyone, contributing to informed decisions. It was developed through collaboration between LKAB, industry organisation Svemin, consulting firm Ecogain and others, with support from Swedish Mining Innovation.
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LKAB is an international mining and minerals group that offers sustainable iron ore, minerals and special products. We are committed to developing carbon-free processes and products by 2045, leading the transformation of the iron and steel industry. Since 1890 we have developed through unique innovations and technological solutions and are driven forward by almost 5,200 employees in 12 countries. In 2023, the LKAB group had sales of about SEK 43 billion.
