Forests, if managed sustainably, play an essential role in climate and biodiversity protection

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the name formed from the two words “biological” and “diversity”. Biodiversity refers not only to all organic life that can be found on Earth, from fungi and plants to animals and micro-organisms, but also the communities that they create and the habitats they live in.

Forests cover 31% of the world’s total land area and cover 40% of the European territory. European forests are growing in both area and volume with the current total volume at approximately 28 billion m³, which is growing by around 612 million m³ every year.¹

Nearly 24%, almost 50 million hectares (1 hectare = 10,000 square metres), of forests are in areas protected for the conservation of biodiversity and landscape, which is considerably more than the amount protected several decades ago. The area of forests designated for biodiversity conservation has increased by 65% in 20 years, and the area designated for landscape conservation by 8%.²