FOREST EUROPE advances towards the next Ministerial Conference

The Forest Europe process held its Expert Level Meeting (ELM) on 9 December 2025 in Brussels to discuss political commitments about the future of the process, to be finally adopted at the next Ministerial Conference next June in Stockholm.

The ongoing Work Programme of FOREST EUROPE stems from the Ministerial Declaration adopted by the European ministers responsible for forests in October 2024 in Bonn, Germany. It consists of two work streams:

Workstream 1 is to ensure that Forest Europe continues to advance Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) and keep its criteria and indicators (C&I) at the forefront of forest policymaking and management.
Workstream 2 is to ensure the stability of Forest Europe as a high-level, voluntary pan-European forest policy process and discuss possible solutions that give Forest Europe financial and political stability in 2027 and onwards.

A revision of the C&I is of great importance to ensure they align with the objectives of Forest Europe and keep future State of Europe’s Forests (SoEF) reports relevant. Emerging challenges and new developments should be clearly reflected in Forest Europe’s indicators. Equally important is that any revision be carried out collaboratively, with broad participation from signatories, observers, experts and other relevant stakeholders.

While the continuous updating of C&I is a substantial undertaking, it is a necessary investment to safeguard the relevance and importance of Forest Europe’s flagship publication, State of Europe’s Forests, as the leading reference for sustainable forest management in the Pan-European Region. Therefore, improving the reporting rate on indicators by the Member States should ensure that both FOREST EUROPE and the indicators remain relevant. More complete and up-to-date reporting should allow providing a reliable reference on forests and their management for other policy sectors.

The proposal focuses on strengthening pan-European forest monitoring and reporting by enhancing the consistency, quality, and comparability of Forest Europe indicators, while ensuring their alignment with evolving policy priorities and international frameworks.

Unfortunately, the release of the most recent State of Europe’s Forests 2025, originally planned on 9 December 2025, was postponed as the current quality of policy recommendations prepared by EFI requires more work.

Keeping FOREST EUROPE fit for the future requires strong political leadership and continuous work on the organisational arrangements and financing of the process, including the Liaison Unit (secretariat) by its signatories. Originally, the process was led and financed by 4-5 leading countries, members of the General Coordinating Committee (GCC). The membership of the GCC is from 2025, decoupled from any direct financial commitment. The funding of Forest Europe is thus entirely dependent on voluntary financial and in-kind contributions from the Signatories.

The work on both work streams is coordinated by the Liaison Unit Sweden and started already at the previous Expert Level Meeting, held on 24–25 September 2025 in Stockholm. The next meeting will take place in spring 2026 in Gothenburg to finalise the preparatory process for the next Ministerial Conference. EUSTAFOR Office follows and contributes to the process and will duly inform all members about the next steps.