Discussions on future pathway of forest monitoring hosted by Pathfinder project

Last week, the Pathfinder project hosted a conference on the future of EU forest monitoring. The event, called “Forests in Focus: The Future of Forest Monitoring in Europe”, focused on the presenting the outcomes of the Pathfinder project and discussions on the need for forest monitoring legislation in Europe.

The EU-funded PathFinder project aims to facilitate this process by going beyond current state-of-the art practices to make the most efficient use of field and remotely sensed data by creating high-resolution maps and accurately estimating forest attributes. Especially since the EU Forest Monitoring Law was down-voted in the Plenary Session in Strasbourg last October, the project tries to position itself as an alternative for the proposed EU framework. The panel discussion aimed to explore whether this was a realistic ambition.

On the panel, EUSTAFOR was represented by Policy Officer Roberto Stelstra, who engaged in debate with Jurij Krajcic from DG CLIMA, Zoltan Kun from Rewilding Europe, Rasmus Astrup from the Norwegian NIBIO Institute and Valerie Lainer-Findeis from ELO.

The organizers summarize the key findings as follows:

• A European Forest Monitoring System built on National Forest Inventories (NFIs) and an Integrated Carbon and Productivity Framework (ICPF) is technically feasible
• Combining field measurements with remote sensing data enhances both forest mapping and statistical estimates
• Remote sensing-based maps offer timely snapshots and are especially valuable for detecting and mapping forest disturbances
• Policy decisions must not rest on pixel counts from maps alone. In-situ observations remain essential for robust and reliable interpretation
• Institutional arrangements will be needed to enable implementation and coordination at the European level

Although EUSTAFOR has never been officially involved in this project, it has participated to a number of workshops, and will continue to follow the developments. For the moment the project seems to have good momentum and potential for a future European forest monitoring system.