Effects of the Transmission System on Biodiversity in Sweden

Lasse Kyläkorpi and Sture Gärdenäs

Since the end of the 19th century, the total area of managed grassland (meadows and pastures) in Sweden has decreased from two million to less than 0.5 million ha. This change of land use has been recognized as a major threat to biodiversity, accounting for some 1000 species being placed on the official red list. During the same period, some 450,000 km of power line rights-of-way (ROW) has been created, covering a total area of about 0.3 million ha of open land. To secure biodiversity and cultural amenities, the Swedish government will spend the equivalent of 65 million US$ per year for the maintenance of about 370,000 ha of managed grassland. However, ROWs can provide complementary habitats for species hampered by the loss of managed grasslands. During 1996, Vattenfall, together with Svenska Kraftnät and Göteborg Energi, performed a life-cycle-assessment (LCA) on the distribution system of electricity. This paper focuses on the effects on the physical environment and biodiversity found in the study. The results indicate that ROW in Sweden have the capacity to influence biodiversity in a positive way. The maintenance of these relatively vast areas appear to favour those species normally dependent of traditional grassland management. Several of those species hampered by loss of grasslands have been found in ROWs in Sweden. There are also negative impacts, mainly related to bird collisions and pole materials, but these appear to be less significant than the positive effects.

Keywords: Transmission line, rights-of-way, ROW, Life-cycle-assessment, biodiversity, endangered species, grassland, dispersal corridors