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Policy Brief on a Governance Structure for a European Forest Monitoring System

Policy Brief on a Governance Structure for a European Forest Monitoring System

One of the core project objectives is to facilitate forest monitoring on a pan-European scale for better decision-making processes and policy formulation at the regional, national, and European levels. 

In order to reach policy-makers across the continent and disseminate project outputs and recommendations, the most optimal tool to centralise this information is through the means of a policy brief. A group of PathFinder partners got together and did just that: they wrote a policy brief about the required governance structure for a European forest monitoring system. 

The policy brief highlights that a robust reporting and accounting framework is essential for consistent greenhouse gas reporting and the successful implementation of forest management pathways across EU Member States.

The proposed governance structure for a European Forest Monitoring System adopts a stepwise, bottom-up approach, leveraging existing national-level data collection efforts and standardising information at the European level. To meet this goal, PathFinder proposes 9 key decision-making points:

  1. The European Commission oversees the overall coordination of the forest monitoring system.
  2. The European Forest Monitoring System’s goals and protocols are defined collaboratively by the European Commission, Member States, the European National Forest Inventory Network or ENFIN, and ICPF, with the two facilitating data sharing, analysis, and dissemination via the European forest information system.
  3. This monitoring system will be funded jointly by the EU and Member States, with the EU covering central coordination costs and Member States handling national data collection, supported by additional EU funds for new systems.
  4. Member States collect harmonized forest data through national forest inventories, ICPF plots, and remote sensing, coordinated by national correspondents to ensure compliance and seamless communication with the EU.
  5. Data stored in national systems using the nFIESTA software standard is shared with ENFIN and ICPF, enabling integration with remote sensing data to produce Pan-European forest insights.
  6. Both ENFIN and ICPF coordinate the exchange of raw field data with external organizations, including the JRC, to support scientific applications.
  7. Data privacy and security are prioritized, with anonymized data, tiered access rights, and public access limited to aggregated, non-sensitive information.
  8. Future forest projections will be harmonized across Member States, supporting scenario and pathway analyses for policy and timber trade insights.
  9. Quality assurance and control are embedded throughout the system, with stakeholder feedback ensuring continuous improvement and adaptation.

The process of implementing the proposed governance structure has commenced for the Member States within PathFinder and other research projects. This involves refining protocols for harmonised data collection, demonstrating the common mapping and estimation platform through the publication of high-resolution forest attribute maps, for common reporting, and training national experts (see Resources for more information). 

The recent establishment of the ENFIN Association as a legal entity marked another step in strengthening national collaboration to support the European Forest Monitoring System. 

One of the next steps should be the establishment of a central coordination unit within the European Commission, along with links to the ENFIN and ICPF expert groups. This should be followed by full implementation across all Member States, accompanied by ongoing evaluation and adjustment.

A schematic representation of the proposed governance structure

The Policy Brief can be found in our resources section by access the link here, or on Zenodo here

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