Europe is one of the
few regions of the world where forest cover
has increased over the last century. To
mark International Day of Forests (21 March),
the European Environment Agency (EEA) takes
a look at Europe’s valuable forest ecosystems.
In Europe, forests cover
around 35% of the land area (190 million
ha), making Europe one of the most forest-rich
regions in the world. The recent increase
in European forest cover is a result of
national legislation, afforestation and
natural expansion over the last 200 years.
Forests are an economic resource. Forests
generate income for more than 16 million
private forest owners, and forest activities
have a turnover of almost € 500 billion,
employing approximately 3.5 million people.
Forests provide unseen
services: Alongside wood and other products,
forests are also valuable for their ‘ecosystem
services’. For example, more than 20 % of
European forests are managed to protect
water and soils, mainly in mountainous areas.
Other services include preventing floods
and filtering air.
Forests help mitigate
climate change impacts. European forests
absorb approximately 10% of Europe's annual
greenhouse gas emissions, according to the
latest State of Europe’s forests report.
Forest structures in
the EU are becoming more uniform, as the
variety of tree species is reduced. This
means forest biodiversity is lost, making
these ecosystems less resilient to pests,
disease and a changing climate. Natural
forest once covered most of Europe, but
only a very small proportion remains untouched,
mostly in isolated pockets.
But many forest ecosystems are in poor health.
The effects of poor forest management can
be seen in the population of woodland birds,
which declined more than 30% in some regions
of Europe between 1980 and 2005. The IUCN
estimated in 2009 that 27 % of mammal species,
10 % of reptiles and 8 % of amphibians related
to forests are threatened with extinction
in the EU.
Invasive alien species
are increasingly a problem for European
forests. There are around 1 800 species
in Europe’s forests which are invasive and
alien to the natural environment. For example,
European forests have been devastated by
Dutch elm disease caused by fungi introduced
from Asia, and grey squirrels are outcompeting
red squirrels. Globally, invasive alien
species are one of the largest causes of
biodiversity loss.
Climate change is very likely to harm forest
ecosystems. One area which may change is
the pattern of forest fires. On average,
around 400 000 ha of forest currently burns
down every year, mostly in the Mediterranean
region. Some habitats, such as forest wetlands,
are particularly sensitive to climate change.
