Carlos Romao / Annemarie Bastrup-Birk 13 th meeting Standing Forestry Committee Brussels, 18 September 2015 State of nature in the EU - focus on forest habitats

Nature reporting Conservation status Which forests are targeted by the habitats directive? Overall results Focus on forests results EU Biodiversity strategy to 2020 State of nature in the EU Results from reporting, nature directives

Nature reporting by Member States (i) 2 directives: 'Birds' & 'Habitats' Every 6 years: , , … About 450 bird species, over other species (fauna & flora), 233 habitat types (including 81 woodland & forest habitats) Across 9 terrestrial biogeographical and 4 marine regions

Birds directive (Article 12): near reports Habitats directive (Article 17): over species reports & habitats reports (including over 700 woodland & forest reports) Main data & information reported (for habitats) –Current distribution 10 km x 10 km map –Current range and surface area (km 2 ) –Structures & functions –Future prospects –Trends –Pressures & threats Nature reporting by Member States (ii) CONSERVATION STATUS

Conservation status Conservation status parameters (habitats) - Range - Area - Structure & functions - Future prospects Favourable when all 4 are favourable

Which forests are targeted by the Habitats Directive? (i) (Semi) Natural Habitat that –Are in danger of disapearance –Have small natural range due to regression or intrinsically restricted area –Present outstanding examples of typical characteristics of one or more of the 9 biogeographical regions Annex I habitat types: 233, including 81 woodland & forest types

Which forests are targeted by the Habitats Directive? (ii) In addition, Annex I forest habitat types '(Sub)natural woodland vegetation comprising native species forming forests of tall trees, with typical undergrowth, and meeting one of the following criteria: rare, residual, and/or hosting species of Community interest' Different from the forest definition used for European statistics (Land with tree crown cover of > 10 % and area > 0.5 ha. Tree height ≥ 5 m at maturity in situ, including temporarily unstocked forest areas) Interpretation Manual of EU habitat types - forests of native species; - forests with a high degree of naturalness; - forests of tall trees and high forest; - presence of old and dead trees; - forests with a substantial area; - forests having benefited from continuous sustainable management over a significant period

Which forests are 'woodland & forest ecosystem'? (i) 2 types of 'wooded dunes' 79 types of 'forests' –Forests of Boreal Europe: 7 types –Forests of Temperate Europe: 37 types –Mediterranean deciduous forests: 13 types –Mediterranean sclerophyllous forests: 10 types –Temperate mountain coniferous forests: 3 types –Mediterranean and Macaronesian mountain coniferous forests: 9 types

Which forests are 'woodland & forest ecosystem'? (ii) As reported by Member States, These 81 types cover ca km 2 3 largest types – Atlantic acidophilous beach forests km 2 – Galicio-Portuguese oak woods km 2 –91D0 - Bog woodland km 2 3 smallest types –91X0 - Dobrogean beach forests 0.3 km 2 – Aegean Quercus brachyphylla woods 1.4 km 2 –9590 – Cedrus brevifolia forests 2.9 km 2

Nature reporting - overall results (i) Birds Directive (Article 12 reports) Conservation status fauna & flora species (n = 2 665) Conservation status habitat types (n = 804) Habitats Directive (Article 17 reports) Proportion of assessments in each conservation status class

Nature reporting - overall results (ii) Proportion of HABITAT assessments in each conservation status class per biogeographic and marine regionper Annex I habitat category

Nature reporting – woodland & forest habitats (i) 15 % favourable assessments 80 % unfavourable assessments –40 % not improving nor declining –28 % unfavourable and declining –3 % unfavourable, but improving –9 % unfavourable, unknown trend (not in the graph) –54 % unfavourable-inadequate –26 % unfavorable-bad

Nature reporting – woodland & forest habitats (ii) Top 10 (% of frequency) pressures (current) and threats (future), as reported by Member States

Nature reporting – woodland & forest habitats (iii) Top 3 pressures, per biogeographical region ALPINEATLANTICBLACK SEABOREALCONTINENTALMACARONESIANMEDITERRANEANPANNONIANSTEPPIC Forest and Plantation management & use Mining and quarrying Forest and plantation management & use Invasive alien species Fire and fire suppression Forest and plantation management & use Abiotic changes (climate change) Changes in water bodies conditions Air pollution, air-borne pollutants Grazing in forests & woodland Vegetation succession/Bio -cenotic evolution Changes in water bodies conditions Interspecific floral relations Forest exploitation Vegetation succession/Bio- cenotic evolution Changes in water bodies conditions Sport and leisure infrastructures Changes in water bodies conditions Invasive alien species Changes in water bodies conditions Vegetation succession/Bio -cenotic evolution Grazing by livestock Hunting and collection of terrestrial wild animals Interspecific faunal relations

Nature reporting – woodland & forest habitats (iv) Woodland & forest habitat types: ca km 2 (is this an overestimation, incomplete mapping and inventories by most MS???) – km 2 inside Natura 2000 sites (ca. 19 %, underestimation: Greece missing, incomplete data from several MS and for several habitat types)

Nature reporting – woodland & forest habitats (v) TO BE REVISED proportion of Annex I forests compared to the total EU28 'forests', ( km 2 ): ca. 45 % (or 48 % with total EU 28 of ) km 2 forests in Natura 2000; near 50 % of the network area, and 21 % of the total foreswt resource in the EU N2000%20%20Forests%20Part%20I-II-Annexes.pdf N2000%20%20Forests%20Part%20I-II-Annexes.pdf

EU Biodiversity strategy – Forestry target Progress towards Target 3b looking at conservation status of woodland & forest habitat types Small decrease of favourable assessments (17 % in to 15 % in ) Vast majority of assessments remain unfavourable (80 %) 3 % improved from 'bad' to 'inadequate' 28 % deteriorated from 'favourable' to 'unfavourable', or from 'inadequate' to 'bad' Therefore, not 'on target' if current trends persist

Useful links To be completed itatsdirective/docs/Int_Manual_EU28.pdfhttp://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/legislation/hab itatsdirective/docs/Int_Manual_EU28.pdf