Understanding Europe's Forest Harvesting Regimes

Abstract European forests are being shaped by active human use and management, and by harvesting of wood in particular. Yet, our understanding of how forests are harvested across Europe is limited, as the real harvest regimes are not well described by currently available data. Here, we analyse recent harvests, as observed in permanent plots of forest inventories in 11 European countries, totaling to 182,649 plots and covering all major forest types. We (a) characterize harvest regimes through the frequency and intensity of harvest events spatially across Europe, and (b) build models for the probability and intensity of harvest events at the plot‐level and examine the links to potential drivers of harvest, including the pre‐harvest forest structure and composition, climatic, topographic and socio‐economic factors, and past natural disturbances. The results revealed notable variation in harvest regimes across Europe, ranging from high‐frequency and low‐intensity harvests in eastern Central Europe to low‐frequency and high‐intensity harvests in the north, with different strategies emerging in regions with similar total harvest rates. The harvest regimes were strongly driven by country‐level variation, emphasizing the role of national‐level factors. Pre‐harvest forest properties were important drivers for the intensity of harvest, whereas the probability of harvest was more related to socio‐economic factors and natural disturbances. The presented quantification of the forest harvesting regimes provides much needed detail in our understanding of the contemporary forest management practices in Europe, providing a baseline against which to assess future changes in management and strengthening the knowledge‐base for decision‐making on European level.

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Publication Details

Journal
Earth s Future
Published
2025-02-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2024ef005225
Citations
17
Primary Topic
Forest Management and Policy
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
18.79

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article

Understanding Europe's Forest Harvesting Regimes

Andrzej Talarczyk, Susanne Suvanto, Emil Cienciala, Miguel Angel Zavala et al.
17 citations
Earth s Future
Forest Management and Policy
18.79
article

Understanding Europe's Forest Harvesting Regimes

Andrzej Talarczyk, Susanne Suvanto, Emil Cienciala, Miguel Angel Zavala, Adriane Esquivel‐Muelbert, Golo Stadelmann, Jonas Fridman, Mart‐Jan Schelhaas, Louis A. König, Julen Astigarraga, Paloma Ruiz‐Benito, Cornelius Senf, Thomas Pugh, Georges Künstler, Ajdin Starcevic, Helena M. Henttonen, Rasmus Astrup, Gerald Kändler
article en
17 citations

Abstract

Abstract European forests are being shaped by active human use and management, and by harvesting of wood in particular. Yet, our understanding of how forests are harvested across Europe is limited, as the real harvest regimes are not well described by currently available data. Here, we analyse recent harvests, as observed in permanent plots of forest inventories in 11 European countries, totaling to 182,649 plots and covering all major forest types. We (a) characterize harvest regimes through the frequency and intensity of harvest events spatially across Europe, and (b) build models for the probability and intensity of harvest events at the plot‐level and examine the links to potential drivers of harvest, including the pre‐harvest forest structure and composition, climatic, topographic and socio‐economic factors, and past natural disturbances. The results revealed notable variation in harvest regimes across Europe, ranging from high‐frequency and low‐intensity harvests in eastern Central Europe to low‐frequency and high‐intensity harvests in the north, with different strategies emerging in regions with similar total harvest rates. The harvest regimes were strongly driven by country‐level variation, emphasizing the role of national‐level factors. Pre‐harvest forest properties were important drivers for the intensity of harvest, whereas the probability of harvest was more related to socio‐economic factors and natural disturbances. The presented quantification of the forest harvesting regimes provides much needed detail in our understanding of the contemporary forest management practices in Europe, providing a baseline against which to assess future changes in management and strengthening the knowledge‐base for decision‐making on European level.

Earth s FutureVol. 13(2)
Lund University (SE), Universidad de Alcalá (ES), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (CH), Foundation for Polish Science (PL), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE), Natural Resources Institute Finland (FI), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), Czech Academy of Sciences, Global Change Research Institute (CZ), Institute of Forest Ecosystem Research (CZ), Forest Research (GB), Nordwestdeutsche Forstliche Versuchsanstalt (DE), Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NO), Technical University of Munich (DE), University of Birmingham (GB), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR), Wageningen University & Research (NL)
Biodiversa+, Lasy Państwowe, European Commission, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Vetenskapsrådet, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Norges Forskningsråd, Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme, Wageningen University and Research, HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council
Life in Land
Openalex Percentile: Top 0%
Forest Management and Policy
18.79
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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