European Forests

A new interactive online database provides access to most of the collected information in FAOs comprehensive and most recent Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA 2010). The main module has options to use multiple output formats and generate simple diagrams, providing easier and more flexible access to FRA data.The database includes 25 of the FRA 2010 tables grouped into eight categories: Extent and characteristics; Ownership and management; Forest establishment; Volume, biomass and carbon; Forest health; Employment and human resources; Education and research; Revenues and expenditures.Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010: Interactive Database (http://countrystat.org/index.asp?ctry=for HomeFor=for)Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 (http://www.fao.org/forestry/fra/fra2010/en/)

Major forest infrastructure will be opened up to researchers from the public and private sectors across Europe thanks to the newly started project Designing trees for the Future (Trees4Future). For the first time key infrastructures within the European forest based sector, including databases, state-of-the-art analytical tools and predictive models will be integrated and made available via a user-friendly, central access portal. The four-year Trees4Future project aims to integrate major forestry resources and infrastructures, to provide the European forest-based and wider research community with easy and comprehensive access to currently scattered sources of information and expertise. This will make a significant...

The European Forest Institute has released a new multimedia video on European forests. Called European Forests: Central to the World We Live in, it gives an overall picture of Europe's most versatile ecological infrastructure, tracing a path from south to north and from west to east. As we tour around Europe, we ask why forests continue to be so important to each region, even in the 21st century. But forests face risks. They face threats caused by climate change, such as drought and storms, and we also have to tread a delicate balancing line between the need for more biomass...

The 4th WoodWisdom-Net Research Programme Seminar will take place on 7-8 February 2012 in Helsinki, Finland. This event will be the fourth in a series of programme seminars that started with the Opening Seminar of the WoodWisdom-Net Research Programme in February 2008 in Berlin. This public seminar will bring together researchers and stakeholders from industry, academia and policy-making organisations in the forest-based sector. It will be the:Mid-term seminar of the of the 2nd Joint Call for Proposals (2009),Opening seminar of the Joint Call for Proposals (2010) of the European Research Area Networks (ERA-Nets) WoodWisdom-Net 2 and ERA-NET Bioenergy, andFinal seminar...

A new global web service allowing users to create maps and visualise data on environmental issues is now live. The new Eye on Earth global public information service brings together vast amounts of data about the environment in a powerful, visual format. The online service has been developed jointly by the European Environment Agency (EEA), an EU body and a leading environmental network and information partner, the geographic information system developer Esri and Microsoft. The partners are showcasing the new service during the Eye on Earth Summit in Abu Dhabi from 12-15 December. Organisations across the globe are now invited...

European Forest Institute (EFI) in cooperation with Alterra / Wageningen University and Research Centre has released a set of 1x1 km tree species maps showing the distribution of 20 tree species (Abies spp., Larix spp., Picea spp., Pinus pinaster, Pinus sylvestris, other Pinus spp., Pseudotsuga menziesii, other conifers, Alnus spp., Betula spp., Carpinus spp., Castanea spp., Eucalyptus spp., Fagus spp., Fraxinus spp., Populus spp., Quercus robur/Quercus petraea, other Quercus spp., Robinia spp., other broadleaves) over Europe. Basic dendrometric data were gathered for 260,000 national forest inventory plot locations from 17 countries to compile these maps. Forest plot data collected in...

The initial results of the Global Forest Remote Sensing Survey were released on 30th November 2011 in a side-event to the 17th Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, being held in Durban, South Africa. New estimates of the area in forest land-use and change rates (deforestation and afforestation) have been calculated at global, region (continent) and ecological zone scales for 1990, 2000 and 2005. The findings of the Survey show the world total forest area in 2005 was 3.69 billion hectares, or 30% of the global land area. The new findings suggest that the rate...

As defined in Article 4 of the European Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC) each European Member State has provided a National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) to the European Commission, detailing projections for renewable energy development up to the year 2020. By that year, the cumulative consumption of renewable energy in all European Member States should result in an overall share of renewable energy of 20% across the European Union (EU).The Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), assigned by the European Environment Agency (EEA) has collected all energy-related data in a database and a data report, which are available for...

Natura 2000, the EU network of protected areas, has undergone a significant expansion. Nearly 18 800 km2 have been added, including a major addition of marine areas covering 17 000 square kilometres which will increase protection for many endangered marine species. The network now covers almost 18% of the EU landmass and more than 145 000 km2 of its seas. The main countries involved in this latest expansion are the UK, France, Belgium, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, Lithuania and Italy. Natura 2000 is the centrepiece of Europes battle to halt biodiversity loss and safeguard ecosystem services.Janez Potocnik, European Commissioner for the...

The Summary for Policymakers of the Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX) was approved on 18 November 2011 by member governments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The full report will be published in February 2012.The report addresses how integrating expertise in climate science, disaster risk management, and adaptation can inform discussions on how to reduce and manage the risks of extreme events and disasters in a changing climate. The report evaluates the role of climate change in altering the characteristics of extreme events.The report was a...

The first international Fascination of Plants Day will take place on 18 May 2012. It is launched under the umbrella of the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO). The goal of this activity is to get as many people as possible around the world fascinated by plants and enthused about the importance of plant science for agriculture, in sustainably producing food, as well as for horticulture, forestry, and all of the non-food products such as paper, timber, chemicals, energy, and pharmaceuticals. The role of plants in environmental conservation will also be a key message.Fascination of Plants Day (http://www.plantday12.eu/ ) EPSO webpage...

Following a partial recovery of the markets for sawn softwood in 2010, and fairly good sales in the first half of 2011, the markets for sawn softwood production and consumption have slowed down again, tempering the expectations for 2011 and 2012, in particular in Europe, as delegates at the 6th International Softwood Conference held in Copenhagen on 20 and 21 October 2011 reported.Though the statistical data gathered for the conference point towards increasing production and consumption levels for both 2011 and 2012, the participants in the conference did not consider these as satisfactory and probably even too optimistic. The economic...

A joint meeting of the 36th Session of the FAO European Forestry Commission and the 69th Session of the UNECE Timber Committee was held in Antalya, Turkey 10-14 October 2011. At the Timber Committee meeting an agreed Market Statement was developed and released. The market statement is organised into three main sections: an overview of forest products markets in 2011 and 2012 (including policy developments affecting forest products markets, contribution to the green economy, certified forest products markets); economic and construction developments; Market sector developments (wood raw materials, wood energy, carbon markets, sawn softwood, sawn hardwood, panels, pulp and paper,...

Forests do not only provide us with food, fibre and medicine, they regulate our climate and improve our quality of life. Human activities and climate change exert increasing pressure on our forest resources and the services they provide. With increasing demand on forests services on the one side, and uncertainty and risks linked to climate change on the other, we need to ensure that forests can continue fulfilling their multifunctional role. A new publication by the European Environment Agency provides a brief overview of forest resources in Europe, the services they provide, and the pressures they are facing.EEA press...