Forests in the EU’s biodiversity policy

Many legal instruments and other initiatives of the EU have impacts on the forest sector

The Treaties of the European Union do not include a common forest policy. However, matters related to forests are contained in several sectoral policies of the EU. In particular, many regulations and directives in the fields of the agricultural, environmental, climate and energy policies have direct or indirect impacts on the use and management of forests.

With respect to biodiversity policy, the legal instruments and other initiatives linked to the forest sector include the EU Biodiversity Strategy and the national commitments under it, the Nature Restoration Regulation, the definitions of primary and old-growth forests, and closer-to-nature forest management. Links to the legal instruments and other initiatives are given below.

Commission Communication on the EU Biodiversity Strategy

The European Commission published a Communication ‘EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 - Bringing nature back into our lives’ in May 2020. In July 2021 the Commission adopted the objectives of the Biodiversity Strategy related to forests in the new EU Forest Strategy for 2030.

The aim of the measures of the Biodiversity Strategy is to ensure the recovery of biodiversity in such a way that the long-term objectives concerning a good environmental status will be achieved by 2050. The Strategy outlines the objectives concerning natural capital and measures to protect biodiversity and improve the ecological status of different habitats, factors enabling a structural change, and international priorities until 2030.

The EU Biodiversity Strategy includes 17 key objectives, three of which concern the development of a network of protected areas and 14 are related to other kinds of restoration and the improvement of habitats. The objectives presented in the Communication include increasing protection and restoration and promoting biodiversity in forests. Objectives related to pollinators and afforestation are included as well.

The Biodiversity Strategy contains protection objectives that concern the whole surface area of the EU. The EU-wide target for protection is 30%, of which 10% should be strictly protected. The target for strict protection covers all remaining primary and old-growth forests of the EU. The deterioration of the conservation status of species and habitats included in the Habitats and Birds Directives should be reversed and at least 30% of them should be in favourable conservation status or show a strong positive trend.

National commitments under the EU Biodiversity Strategy

The Commission has requested the Member States to make two commitments, or pledges, related to the key objectives of the EU Biodiversity Strategy. The commitments concerning species and habitats describe the measures to ensure the conservation status of species and habitats included in the Habitats and Birds Directives that are in unfavourable conservation status and to select the species and habitat types whose trend is to be reversed. Of the habitats and species in the Directives that are in unfavourable conservation status 30% would be selected for improvement. In the commitments related to the surface area the Member States should state how they will contribute to the common EU target to protect 30% of the land and sea area and to designate 10% of this to strict protection. This includes the target concerning strict protection of all remaining primary and old-growth forests.

National commitments under the EU Biodiversity Strategy are under preparation. The main responsibility for this rests with the Ministry of the Environment, but the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry will have a strong role in their implementation.

EU Nature Restoration Regulation

The aim of the Nature Restoration Regulation adopted in summer 2024 is to improve a broad range of ecosystems in different kinds of environments, both in protected areas and outside these. The Regulation aims to strengthen the implementation of the Habitats and Birds Directives, Water Framework Directive and Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

With respect to forests, the most important habitat types included in the Habitats Directive with a large surface area in Finland are Western Taïga, herb-rich forests, forests on or connected to glaciofluvial eskers, and bog woodlands. These habitat types in commercial forests are studied in the Luodsi project funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

The European Union Member States, European Parliament and Commission reached a provisional agreement on the EU Nature Restoration Regulation on 9 November 2023. The Parliament approved the Regulation in February 2024 and the Member States supported it with a qualified majority of votes at the Environment Council on 17 June 2024.

Definition, mapping, monitoring and strict protection of primary and old-growth forests
The EU Biodiversity Strategy and EU Forest Strategy both aim to protect all remaining primary and old-growth forests. The Commission published the Guidelines for Defining, Mapping, Monitoring and Strictly Protecting EU Primary and Old-Growth Forests in 2023. The Guidelines give definitions for primary and old-growth forest and specify the indicators, i.e. criteria, for the identification of such forests. Three of these indicators are main indicators that must always be met and, besides these, two out of four complementary indicators must be met. In practice, the key criteria in Finland are the age of the stand and deadwood.

The EU definition of old-growth forest is based on the following:

forest stand consists of native tree species
it has developed predominantly through natural processes and
its structures and dynamics are similar to those in a primary or undisturbed forest of the same type.

Signs of human activities may be visible but they are gradually disappearing. Such forests may also be called semi-natural forests. The forest can also be planted or sown, provided that it meets the rest of the definition. It should be noted, in particular, that stands under active productive management are excluded even when the management is not intensive.

The threshold for the indicators should be set in the Member States. This work is currently under way in Finland, led by the Ministry of the Environment and in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Metsähallitus will carry out the inventories on state-owned lands in 2024–2025.

Closer-to-nature forest management

To promote the objectives of the EU Biodiversity Strategy, the Commission published the Guidelines on Closer-to-Nature Forest Management in 2023. The development of certification under the Guidelines is included in the EU Forest Strategy. Closer-to-nature forest management can be seen as a means to promote the ecological pillar of sustainable forest management.

The Guidelines on Closer-to-Nature Forest Management contain recommendations for measures aimed to strengthen biodiversity and prepare for the impacts of climate change, with a key focus on commercial forests. The main objectives are to increase structural diversity and promote ecosystem dynamics. The key issues to be considered include natural regeneration, how harvesting is implemented, deadwood retention, how soil and water ecosystems are taken into account, and what is retained in the forest.

The recommendations and measures are voluntary, which means that forest owners can use them for the management of their forests if they wish to do so. The recommendations should be developed further by the Member States. In Finland the preparation of the national guidelines has not yet been started.

Afforestation and reforestation aimed for biodiverse forest and EU goal to plant three billion trees

The EU Biodiversity Strategy and Forest Strategy promote afforestation and reforestation that aim for biodiverse forests. Related to this, a goal has been set to plant at least three billion trees in the EU by 2030. The goal of three billion trees is also included in the EU Nature Restoration Regulation.
In order to be counted towards the goal the tree must be additional, which means that trees planted in connection with normal regeneration are not taken into account. In addition, the trees should be beneficial for biodiversity and climate. To promote this goal, the Commission published the Guidelines on Biodiversity-Friendly Afforestation, Reforestation and Tree Planting in 2023.

The national work is just getting started.