ETC/BD Technical paper 4/2021: Forest & biodiversity in Europe, an overview

12 Dec 2022

Håkan Berglund, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU, SE), Aurélien Carré, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN, FR), Lubos Halada, Institute of Landscape Ecology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (ILE-SAS, SK), Robert Kanka, Institute of Landscape Ecology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (ILE-SAS, SK), Helmut Kudrnovsky, Environment Agency Austria/Umweltbundesamt GmbH (EEA, AT), David Paternoster, Environment Agency Austria/Umweltbundesamt GmbH (EEA, AT), Sabine Roscher, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN, FR)

This report on Forest & biodiversity aims to give an overview of all the relevant information on forest ecosystems across the European Union, starting with a review of their definition and description in the EU. The report then tries to bring a new understanding on how forest ecosystems are protected within the European Union, by showing how forest-related objectives are being stepped up by EU policies from different sectors and how the EU is contributing to implementing sustainable forest management, through its different policies and strategies. The report also tries to synthetise and combine the results of different assessments of forest condition, as to investigate the possibilities to compile and review information from both nationwide forest inventories and conservation assessments at larger scales. Finally, and in light of the recent work of the European Commission regarding the drawing of the future Nature Restoration Law, the report ends on a chapter dedicated to restoration potential and progress throughout the world, and in the specific case of Europe.