Indicators of sustainable forest management: application and assessment

Report of the international project Life ManForCBD

Where are we now with European forest multi-taxon biodiversity and where can we head to?

International audienceForestry implementation significantly impacts forest biodiversity. Despite the promotion of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) in Europe, sustainability assessments hardly account for direct biodiversity indicators. We aim to i) gather and map the existing information on forest multitaxon biodiversity associated with stand structure and management in Europe; ii) identify knowledge gaps for forest biodiversity research; and iii) discuss the research potential associated with multitaxon biodiversity data. We established a research network focused on multi-taxon biodiversity, stand structure and management data of European forests; and fitted species records, standing trees, lying deadwood, and sampling unit metadata from 34 local datasets. Suitable information was available for 3,591 sampling units, each surveyed for on average 4.6 taxonomic groups. Standing tree diameters, tree height deadwood and tree-related microhabitats were sampled in respectively 2,889; 2,356; 2,309 and 1,388 sampling units. Sampling unit metadata includes spatial coordinates, and compositional and management descriptors. Available data cover all the 14 European forest compositional categories but are unevenly distributed among them, with European beech forests being over-represented as compared to thermophilous and boreal forests. Overall, the available information has the potential to inform the development of conservation and SFM strategies for European forests by supporting: (i) methodological harmonization and coordinated monitoring; (ii) the definition and testing of SFM indicators and thresholds; (iii) datadriven assessment of the effects of environmental and management drivers on multi-taxon forest biological and functional diversity, (iv) multi-scale forest monitoring integrating in-situ and remotely sensed information