European Forest Governance post-2020

Europe and the EU will face a significant new era of forest policymaking after 2020. A strategic and coordinated policy direction will be required, not least to support the implementation of globally agreed policy targets such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Climate Agreement and Convention on Biological Diversity. In the global policy arena, trade developments related e.g. to China, Russia and North America will also have important implications for the European forest sector. On a pan-European scale, a decision on whether to start negotiations on a legally binding agreement on forests in Europe under the umbrella of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) will have to be taken in 2020.

Forests are the biggest land-based natural resource in Europe and there are increasing demands to use this resource for many different purposes. Climate change and biodiversity have become major drivers of all environmental questions, with high expectations for European forests to contribute. The European bioeconomy also has many opportunities and demands for forests, which can play a major role in phasing-out fossil raw materials and products, generating income and employment, and as a provider of ecosystem services to an increasingly urbanized and ageing society. Clearly, this generates potential synergies and trade-offs between the different needs for forests, which all have to be dealt with in a context of a complex inter-sectoral policy landscape that also operates at regional, national and supra-national levels.

This report reviews significant developments in the forest governance framework including EU and international developments, and discusses how coordination in other policy areas than forests leads to policy integration. Based on evidence from a literature review, stakeholder interviews and workshop results, it outlines several potential pathways for future forest policymaking in Europe.