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Understanding Europe's Forest Harvesting Regimes

Suvanto, Susanne LU ; Esquivel-Muelbert, Adriane LU ; Schelhaas, Mart Jan ; Astigarraga, Julen LU orcid ; Astrup, Rasmus ; Cienciala, Emil ; Fridman, Jonas ; Henttonen, Helena M. ; Kunstler, Georges and Kändler, Gerald , et al. (2025) In Earth's Future 13(2).
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... (More)

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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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
forest management, land management, land use, natural resources, timber harvest, wood production
in
Earth's Future
volume
13
issue
2
article number
e2024EF005225
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85217221096
ISSN
2328-4277
DOI
10.1029/2024EF005225
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). Earth's Future published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union.
id
4d856b88-efee-444e-8e0e-e8c45905af76
date added to LUP
2025-02-23 15:34:49
date last changed
2025-05-15 10:52:53
@article{4d856b88-efee-444e-8e0e-e8c45905af76,
  abstract     = {{<p>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.</p>}},
  author       = {{Suvanto, Susanne and Esquivel-Muelbert, Adriane and Schelhaas, Mart Jan and Astigarraga, Julen and Astrup, Rasmus and Cienciala, Emil and Fridman, Jonas and Henttonen, Helena M. and Kunstler, Georges and Kändler, Gerald and König, Louis A. and Ruiz-Benito, Paloma and Senf, Cornelius and Stadelmann, Golo and Starcevic, Ajdin and Talarczyk, Andrzej and Zavala, Miguel A. and Pugh, Thomas A.M.}},
  issn         = {{2328-4277}},
  keywords     = {{forest management; land management; land use; natural resources; timber harvest; wood production}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{Earth's Future}},
  title        = {{Understanding Europe's Forest Harvesting Regimes}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2024EF005225}},
  doi          = {{10.1029/2024EF005225}},
  volume       = {{13}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}