The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning, Formas (www.formas.se), is a governmental research-funding agency under the Ministry of Environment; it is also related to other ministries, especially the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications, and the Ministry of Education and Science.

Formas encourages and supports scientifically significant research related to sustainable development. In particular, this means supporting the environmental and agricultural sciences of forestry, horticulture, veterinary medicine, and food, fish and reindeer husbandry, as well as spatial planning that includes building sciences and community systems. Funded projects cover a wide range of approaches from basic research to more applied efforts. Formas encourages projects that promote cross- and interdisciplinary research within its areas of programme responsibility. Formas provides mechanisms for communicating research results and stimulates public debate on issues of concern that emerge from or are related to research for sustainable development.
Formas is partly responsible for Swedish involvement with the 5th and 6th Framework Programmes of the EU. It represents Sweden in several IEA programmes and annexes, and promotes Nordic research cooperation within its areas of programme responsibility. Formas is also the Swedish member of the International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASA).

Formas research funding is primarily bottom-up. All funding decisions are based on scientific peer-reviews of the applicants and their research proposals. Scientific committees that mainly constitute of active researchers read, evaluate and rank the projects. The board of Formas makes the final funding decisions.

Formas has several types of research funding for different purposes. For instance, it supports research projects, research programmes, and centres of excellence, post-doc fellowships, researcher training, and international cooperation. The total annual research budget is 60 million euros, of which ca 12 are related to biodiversity. The following aspects have been put forward if Formas´ calls within biodiversity: status and change in biodiversity, the role of biodiversity for ecosystem functioning, abiotic and biotic factors decisive for biodiversity, measures to conserve or restore biodiversity, and the role and management of biodiversity in a sustainable development.