EC Study Highlights Urgent Need for Better Forest Biodiversity Monitoring
A recent news from the European Commission highlights that Europe still lacks the biodiversity data needed to understand the true state of its forests. Although long-term monitoring programmes exist, the study shows that they remain uneven and often too limited to give a complete picture of species richness and composition across the continent. Researchers assessed six forest types and six species groups across 2,000 locations and found that many taxa, especially saproxylic beetles, vascular plants and fungi, are significantly undersampled. Even better-known groups, such as birds, require more systematic monitoring to provide reliable information. The authors conclude that Europe needs a much more coordinated and extensive effort before biodiversity trends in forests can be understood with confidence.
This finding is highly relevant to SafeNet, as the project aims to strengthen the evidence base needed for forest conservation in Europe. SafeNet contributes by improving the monitoring and mapping of ecologically valuable and carbon-rich forests and by generating clearer information on how forest ecosystems are changing under growing environmental pressures. By supporting more coherent and comparable biodiversity data across countries and forest types, SafeNet helps address some of the most significant gaps identified in the European Commission’s analysis. This includes improving understanding of where biodiversity is concentrated, where it is declining and how this should inform future conservation and management decisions.
The study underlines that Europe risks limiting its ability to implement effective forest policies if biodiversity knowledge remains incomplete. SafeNet’s work plays an important role in helping to build the stronger and more comprehensive evidence needed to support long-term forest protection and resilience!