Pan-European strategy

To maintain the adaptive capacity of European forests, the genetic diversity of each tree species should be conserved throughout its distribution range. Trees do not recognise borders, so all countries within the species distribution area need to have similar conservation strategies.  

Over the past three decades, EUFORGEN has supported cooperative efforts to conserve forest genetic resources (FGR) in Europe. 

The first version of the Pan-European conservation strategy set out to preserve the evolutionary potential of European forest tree species across the continent. Despite the absence of genetic knowledge for several species, this strategy defined target conservation levels based on environmental zones. It also elaborated criteria for selecting genetic conservation units (GCUs) to identify a European core network of conservation sites. 

As genetic research progressed, producing additional results, EUFORGEN strengthened the various conservation targets and priorities by adding a specific emphasis on genetic information in the new Forest Genetic Resources Strategy for Europe. 

The new strategy delivers an implementation plan of 28 key commitments and recommendations. Together, these help to identify threats and provide essential information for the conservation and sustainable use of FGR. 

To assess the implementation of the strategy at the pan-European level, EUFORGEN created an indicator for standardised monitoring of conservation activities for each species in each country. 

As a networking programme, sharing knowledge among scientists, forest managers and policymakers, EUFORGEN will continue to monitor progress and support action plans for the conservation and sustainable use of FGR in Europe. 

Our main challenges are to reach the same national levels of strategy implementation across Europe and to expand the characterisation and conservation of FGR to neighbouring countries.