Towards the sustainability of European forests and forest ecosystem services

Addressing sustainability of forest resources in Europe is an extremely complex issue, given the large variety of national peculiarities and diverse interests on the use of these resources in European countries. The need to assess the state of forest resources and the provision of forest ecosystem services in Europe, as a whole, is at the core of the new EU forest strategy, adopted by the European Commission in 2013 and further supported by other EU institutions such as the Council and the European Parliament. Although there is not a EU forest policy, many existing European policies set a stress in European forests, pulling for their use in support of environmental, economic or social policies. Often, the targets set by different sectors are contrasting.

My talk will address the initiatives set by the European Commission with the national forestry administrations to assess the state and condition of forest resources in Europe and ensure the long-term sustainable use of these resources. These activities range from the establishment of research programs and activities and the publication of forest assessment reports, to the setting of binding targets for the different sectorial policies. At the base of these initiatives lays the envisaged Forest Information System for Europe for the provision of factual data on the progress towards the objectives of the EU forest strategy.