The High-Level Political Dialogue on “Forest-based geopolitical preparedness” explored Europe’s shifting security landscape. The tone is set by the presenters from four countries with very different experiences: forests are an essential readiness infrastructure.

Europe’s security landscape is shifting. Recent crises like wildfires, floods, pandemics, energy shocks, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine show that societal resilience depends not only on military systems but also on living systems. Forests, long treated as environmental or economic assets, now reveal themselves as strategic security infrastructure. They regulate water, stabilize soils, cool landscapes, reduce natural hazards, supply renewable materials and energy, and provide operational terrain for emergency and defense actors. Their workforce and machinery create a capacity, geographically distributed, that no other sector offer.

The High-Level Political Dialogue, supported by Forest Europe, explored this new security paradigm. The tone is set by the presenters: forests are an essential readiness infrastructure. They protect communities during crises, support reconstruction afterward, and anchor rural resilience. This perspective framed the contributions from four countries with very different experiences.

Ukraine’s forests in war: damage, mines, and the critical role of monitoring systems

Ukraine, presented by Ihor Buksha (Head of Inventory, Monitoring, Certification and Forest Management Planning Department), shows what happens when forests become part of war. More than 2.5 million hectares have been damaged, nearly half a million hectares contain mines, and monitoring systems have been destroyed. Forest inventories and satellite data have turned into security tools for assessing danger, planning demining, and document environmental war crimes. Forests supply fuel, shelter, materials for fortifications, and vital access routes. Ukraine illustrates both the fragility and the strategic value of forests under extreme pressure.

Preparedness cannot be improvised: Finland’s integrated forest security system

Finland, described by Olli Anttonen (Chief of preparedness, Finnish Forest Industries Federation), represents the opposite: a model of long-term, whole-of-society preparedness. The National Emergency Supply Organisation (NESO) integrates ministries, industry, civil protection, energy, defense forces, and the forest sector into a cohesive system. The Forest Pool ensures continuity of essential functions even in crisis. Finland’s lesson is clear: preparedness cannot be improvised. It must be built on trust, legal clarity, cross-sector cooperation, and rehearsed procedures.

Sweden’s call for contingency, stability, and cross-sector planning

Sweden, through Lena Ek (Head of The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry’s work on geopolitical preparedness), has rediscovered the strategic importance of forest-based value chains. Forestry supports energy systems, packaging, medical supplies, construction materials, and district heating. Yet the sector has been largely absent from national crisis planning. The Swedish Royal academy’s preparedness program shows the need for contingency stocks, regulatory stability, cross-sector exercises, and recognition of forestry as a sector of societal importance. Bioenergy, a cornerstone of Swedish energy security, is at risk without aligned EU policy.

Low forest cover, high exposure: the UK calls for a European preparedness framework

The United Kingdom, presented by Richard Stanford (Chief Executive, Forestry Commission), highlights Europe’s vulnerabilities. With only 13.5% woodland cover and 80% timber import dependence, the UK is exposed to geopolitical market shocks. Climate impacts, rising timber demand, and fragile global supply chains intensify this risk. Forests underpin water security, flood protection, construction materials, biomass energy, and social stability — but their slow growth means preparedness must begin decades ahead. Stanford called for a European Forest Crisis Preparedness Framework to help countries assess risks, plan scenarios, and place forests on political agendas.

Preparedness is an intergenerational responsibility

Across all presentations, the message is consistent: forests are strategic assets for Europe’s resilience. They stabilize essential systems, support crisis response, and provide materials and energy when global markets fail. Europe must integrate forests into civil protection planning, strengthen monitoring systems, improve cross-border cooperation, support Ukraine’s reconstruction, and develop a coherent preparedness agenda for the 2026 Ministerial Conference. Above all, preparedness is an intergenerational responsibility. Forests grow slowly; security must grow with them.

Forest Europe will continue its work and plan to present support, in the form of a policy brief, to our Signatories at the Ministerial Conference in June 2026.

Read more about the HLPD Concept here