During the tenth FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conference 2-3 June 2026, the pan-European FOREST EUROPE Signatory countries reaffirmed their shared commitment through the signing of the Stockholm Ministerial Declaration.

Policy Brief: Europe’s forests and forest-based value chains are increasingly recognised as strategic assets for societal resilience and geopolitical preparedness in a rapidly changing security environment. This Policy Brief highlights how sustainably managed forests can strengthen Europe’s crisis preparedness, supply security and strategic autonomy by supporting energy stability, functioning value chains and the environmental foundations of resilient societies.

Green Forest Jobs in Europe are facing growing challenges linked to skills shortages, working conditions and long-term attractiveness. This Policy Brief highlights the need to improve job quality and attractiveness through reskilling, gender equality measures, and better occupational safety and health standards, while also modernising education and training and strengthening cooperation and workforce monitoring across the European forest sector.

Under the Swedish Chairmanship, strengthening and harmonising forest reporting has been identified as a key priority. Without cohesive, standardised and comparable data, it is not possible to produce robust and policy-relevant forest statistics. This report presents a technical analysis of reporting rates for quantitative data from the Joint Pan-European Data Collection 2025, constituting the first step in a broader roadmap to strengthen and harmonise the pan-European criteria and indicators for Sustainable Forest Management.

The State of Europe’s Forests 2025 report provides a comprehensive overview of the condition, management, and use of forest resources across Europe. It is based on harmonised data provided by countries and builds on internationally agreed indicators for sustainable forest management. NB. This is a corrected version uploaded in May 2026. 

SoEF 2025 Annex: Data Tables

In line with the Bonn Ministerial Declaration and building on the long-term vision for Forest Europe, the implementation of the Work Programme 2025-2026 reflects overarching political priorities on, among other things, climate change, mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity protection, promoting a sustainable and circular bioeconomy and allowing flexibility regarding new and emerging issues.

FOREST EUROPE set up an Expert Group on Green Forest Jobs to implement elements of the Bratislava Ministerial Declaration under the German Chairmanship. The Expert Group found that the present indicator for employment (6.5 Forest sector workforce) in the current FOREST EUROPE Set of Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management is unsatisfactory.

FOREST EUROPE set up an Expert Group on Green Forest Jobs to implement elements of the Bratislava Ministerial Declaration under the German Chairmanship. The Expert Group found that the present indicator for employment (6.5 Forest sector workforce) in the current FOREST EUROPE Set of Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management is unsatisfactory

This position paper is an outcome of the Youth Consultation Workshops organized in April and May 2024 by the International Forestry Students' Association (IFSA) 9th Ministerial Conference Task Force.

FOREST EUROPE - Keeping Sustainable Forest Management Fit for the Future. Adopted by the Expert Level Meeting on 4 June 2024 for consideration and signature by the Ministers at the Ninth FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conference.

Sustainable Forest Management as a Tool to Enhance Forest Resilience. Adopted by the Expert Level Meeting on 4 June 2024 for consideration and signature by the Ministers at the Ninth FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conference.