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This research serves to integrate the concept of “ecological footprint” into future - oriented forest management scenarios. Ecological footprints measure human appropriation of ecosystem products and services in terms of the area of bioproductive land and sea needed to supply these services. Scenarios are commonly used to explore stakeholder perceptions of possible forest futures, and are typically focused on the local impacts of different management choices. This paper illustrates how global footprint analysis can be incorporated into scenarios to enable local forest stakeholders to consider the impacts of their local decisions at national and global levels. The scenarios used in this research were drawn from the EU-funded project ‘INTEGRAL where ten European countries were included as case studies. It finds that different future forest management scenarios involving a potential increase or decrease of the harvested timber, or potential increase or decrease of subsidies for forest protection, combined with various possible changes in local consumption patterns, might have impact on both “internal” (local) and “external” (non-local) forest or either carbon footprints. Conclusively, crucial decisions to reduce local production, without a concurrent decrease in local consumption, could contribute to an increase in reliance on high risk imports with a net negative impact on sustainability. 

The newly adopted Green Infrastructure Strategy is a key step in implementing targets of the European Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 (EBS). This study responds to policy needs for target 2 on ecosystems conditions and services, target 1 on implementing and enhancing coherence of the Natura 2000 network and sub-target 3b on integrating environmental concerns in forest management. Protected areas such as Natura 2000 sites form the backbone of Green Infrastructure. Their connectivity and integration in the unprotected landscape are essential to enable the movement and dispersal of species, to reduce the fragmentation of habitats and to render ecosystems more healthy and resilient. Connectivity of protected sites depends on the area of site, inter-site distances and landscape suitability (hostile and favourable land uses for species dispersal and movement). This report describes the JRC integrated model and derived results on the connectivity of Natura 2000 sites (only sites including forest). The model allows a harmonized, easily reproducible and automated EU wide assessment and comparison across countries. The Natura 2000 network is first characterised structurally in terms of simple (physically isolated) and complex sub-nets (spatially connected sites). Natura 2000 shares of complex sub-nets range from 40% in Bulgaria to 5% in Latvia. Second, the functional connectivity of the Natura 2000 subnets is addressed to tackle fragmentation by grey infrastructure including roads and intensive agriculture for species dispersing 500 m in average. A European-wide land use based friction map was created as a proxy of landscape suitability to measure functional (least-cost) distances between sub-nets. Functional connectivity was assessed according to two foci: one focused more on the area of subnets, another one on the inter-site landscape suitability and distances. The site area weighted index values ranges from 15 % (Denmark) to 78% (Malta). Best connected subnets with respect to inter-site landscape and distance were in Bulgaria, Belgium, Portugal, Ireland and Malta. High shares of functionally isolated subnets were in Greece, Denmark and Portugal. Functionally isolated sites and sites of key importance for connectivity were identified for two countries.

Natura 2000 is the core pillar in the European Union’s (EU) biodiversity conservation policy. It is an EU-wide ecological network of protected areas that cuts across countries’ borders, administrative levels, policy sectors and socio-economic contexts. The network is established and managed according to the legally-binding provisions of the 1979 EU Birds Directive (79/409/EEC, revised in 2009) and the 1992 EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC). Natura 2000 aims to achieve biodiversity conservation and to combine it with the sustainable development of land and natural resources. It can allow for continuation of land uses (eg agriculture, forestry) as long as they do not significantly compromise conservation objectives for habitats and species within and beyond the network. The Natura 2000 network now covers almost 18% of the EU’s territory. Forests are of crucial importance for Natura 2000 and vice versa. Almost 50% of the whole coverage of the network is comprised of forests. This means that nearly 25% of the total forest area in the EU-28 is part of the EU-wide network of protected areas. Yet knowledge about the implementation of Natura 2000 in forests and its effects on biodiversity, forest management and other land uses across the EU is fragmented. This science-based study aims to narrow the gaps in the scholarly, practical and policy-related knowledge. It looks from policy, economic and ecological perspectives at the monitoring of forest biodiversity in Europe, as well as the challenges, achievements, effectiveness and efficiency of the implementation of Natura 2000 in forests in the EU-28. The study provides conclusions and recommendations that can support decisionmaking in policy and practice.

Habitats with highest relevance index correspond to rare habitats or to highly represented in a region, as in the Iberian Peninsula case. The relevance index is a helpful tool to identify on which we have greater responsibility, providing information to regions and Natura 2000 management boards. The output of this index can support the monitoring/assessment of Natura 2000 habitats. To funding projects: priority status is important for conservation planning. Also relevance index can be considered to support management and financial decisions. It is important to improve the knowledge of habitat status. Also the National Forest Inventory of each region can be a helpful tool to provide data to characterize and update the current status of the habitats.