European Forest Institute

Ethical sourcing is a crucial issue for the fashion industry, which is under intense pressure to build ethical and responsible supply chains. Despite its importance, we know little about how individual employees working in the fashion supply chain view ethical sourcing and the ethical considerations they encounter during their work. We adopted the moral agency theory to address these lacunas and conducted a longitudinal qualitative research study. We collected data from a highly heterogenous sample of employees based in the United Kingdom through open-ended essays in three waves (N1 = 50, N2 = 43, N3 = 30) over 9 months that were analyzed using the grounded theory method. The analysis revealed the following themes: a contemporary outlook on boundaries, external considerations, and three levels of action for ethical considerations: Supplier, organization, and employee (i.e., individual). We offer a revitalized view of ethical sourcing as a concept from a practice perspective and discuss critical ethical issues that affect employees’ moral agency to enact ethical sourcing decisions. Our findings offer insights into avenues to advance theoretical knowledge through a comprehensive framework derived from our results. We also propose significant practical implications to promote the widespread integration of ethical sourcing.

Purpose of review We are amid a historical momentum encouraging forest restoration, yet the translation of ambitious targets into reality is hindered by poor documentation and understanding of the success and failure of past restoration efforts. This review aims to evaluate the ecological, social, political and economic characteristics of forest restoration across Europe, their development over time and key lessons learned to guide future restoration initiatives. The analysis is based on the synthesis of expert assessments from 18 European countries. Recent findings Early restoration initiatives in central and southern Europe were largely reactive to natural disasters or timber shortages, and while effective in erosion control and timber production, their ecological benefits were often limited due to monoculture plantations and short-rotation systems. Geopolitical crises intensified timber production, with nationalized and centrally managed forests in several countries, but often at the cost of biodiversity. Since the 1990s, a shift toward multifunctionality has emerged driven by the convergence of environmental, social, political and economic events. Summary Forest restoration in Europe has transitioned from disaster reduction and production-driven efforts to a more multifunctional approach that promotes biodiversity. Changes have been driven by a combination of environmental (e.g., catastrophic consequences following natural disasters), political (e.g., wars, forest nationalization and management centralization), legal (e.g., strict and ambitious national and international policies), social (e.g., rural abandonment and changes in societal values) and economic (e.g., new funding mechanisms or market fluctuations) events. Despite the development, conflicting goals, insufficient funding, climate change and short-term thinking persist as key barriers.

Climate change and water scarcity bring significant challenges to agricultural systems in the Mediterranean region. Novel methods are required to rapidly monitor the water stress of the crop to avoid qualitative losses of agricultural products. This study aimed to predict the stem water potential of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L., 1763) using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and machine learning techniques to enhance monitoring and management of cotton’s water status. The research was conducted in Rutigliano, Southern Italy, during the 2023 cotton growing season. Different machine learning algorithms, including random forest, support vector regression, and extreme gradient boosting, were evaluated using Sentinel-2 spectral bands as predictors. The models’ performance was assessed using R2 and root mean square error (RMSE). Feature importance was analyzed using permutation importance and SHAP methods. The random forest model using Sentinel-2 bands’ reflectance as predictors showed the highest performance, with an R2 of 0.75 (±0.07) and an RMSE of 0.11 (±0.02). XGBoost (R2: 0.73 ± 0.09, RMSE: 0.12 ± 0.02) and AdaBoost (R2: 0.67 ± 0.08, RMSE: 0.13 ± 0.02) followed in performance. Visible (blue and red) and red edge bands were identified as the most influential predictors. The trained RF model was used to model the seasonal trend of cotton’s stem water potential, detecting periods of acute and moderate water stress. This approach demonstrates the prospective for high-frequency, non-invasive monitoring of cotton’s water status, which could support smart irrigation strategies and improve water use efficiency in Mediterranean cotton production.

Purpose of review A rapidly changing climate is weakening the resilience of forest ecosystems through vitality loss of major native tree species, which reduces the ability of forests to deliver ecosystem services. Established invasive tree species (EITS) may take over the vacant space potentially preventing the regeneration of the preferred native tree species. This paper aims to investigate how expansion of these invasive non-native tree species can be addressed in a context of climate-smart forest management, considering alternatives to costly and often ineffective EITS control measures. Recent findings We found that forest ecologists increasingly recognize that climate-smart forest management, in particular tree species diversification and close-to-nature forest management, can strengthen the resilience of forests against negative impacts by EITS. In the resulting resilient forest ecosystems, a more closed canopy may deprive EITS of their invasive nature, and EITS may contribute to climate change adaptation. Summary This review proposes new pathways for forest management transcending the apparent incompatibility between the dominance of EITS and the adaptation capacity of forests and forest management to climate change. Adaptive measures to increase the resilience of forests to climate change may prevent the dominance of EITS. Under such conditions, useful functional traits of these tree species may even contribute to maintenance or enhancement of biodiversity, provisioning of ecosystem services and adaptation to climate change.

Grasslands are key for food security and provide important ecosystem services. Intensive management, such as frequent mowing, increases productivity but decreases other ecosystem services as well as plant biodiversity. We here estimate large scale effects of mowing frequency on plant species richness and provide spatial assessments of yield-species richness trade-offs. We use a unique, multisource remote sensing-based dataset covering all permanent agricultural grassland fields across Germany (N = 1,313,073) over four years to estimate the causal impact of mowing frequency, as a proxy of grassland management intensity, on plant species richness. We identify spatially explicit and heterogeneous treatment effects using generalized random forests. We find that more frequent mowing significantly reduces plant species richness, but these effects vary by environmental and socioeconomic context. We quantify the trade-offs between species richness and yield due to changes in mowing frequency, finding an average cost of 126 euros per additional plant species, and demonstrate how spatial targeting can improve the cost-effectiveness of a hypothetical conservation policy, reducing this cost to 51 euros per species. Motivated by the 30 by 30 goal to protect 30% of terrestrial ecosystems by 2030, we further estimate opportunity cost of marginally extensifying 30% of German grasslands to be 131–181 million euros annually, depending on targeting priorities.

Despite its potential for fostering farm sustainability, the adoption of agroforestry faces context-dependent challenges, among which the (perceived) shortage of decision-supporting tools and barriers hindering the assessment of economic, environmental, and social benefits. The process of digitalization offers significant opportunities to enhance sustainability, but it remains crucial to foster a human-centric, fair, and sustainable approach. In the context of the DigitAF Horizon Europe project, we present the results of a multi-stakeholder questionnaire aimed at understanding the perceptions of stakeholders regarding agroforestry and digitalization, as well as the needs of these stakeholders for a successful implementation of this agricultural practice. In the questionnaire, there was a specific focus on the need for and the conditions for the use of digital tools and models, such as generalized digital tools, applications and mapping, climate and weather forecasting and recording, farm management and decision support, and agroforestry and environmental tools. The purpose of this survey was to provide insights to inform agroforestry actors and to foster collaborative initiatives that enhance the potential of digital tools to support the design, implementation, and maintenance of effective and sustainable agroforestry in the European context. Our questionnaire was completed by stakeholders from seven European countries, including farmers, academics, policy actors, farm advisors, and actors in the value chain with an interest in agroforestry. Stakeholders from six living labs, representing Czechia, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK, were involved in the appraisal, along with a multi-stakeholder group from Belgium. Respondents used data and digital tools for various purposes in farming systems and were interested in their potential to improve agroforestry including animal, tree, and crop performance, management guidance, system design, and tree species selection. Our survey revealed that the perceived usefulness of digital tools for agroforestry was substantially higher than stakeholders' awareness of existing tools, indicating a need for better promotion and development of user-friendly, accessible solutions. Additionally, significant obstacles to agroforestry adoption, such as large up-front investments, administrative burdens, and fear of reduced CAP support, were identified, emphasizing the necessity for targeted support and policy improvements. Moving forward, efforts should focus on developing targeted solutions to promote agroforestry according to stakeholder perception, and user-friendly digital tools tailored to the needs and preferences expressed by stakeholders, while also increasing knowledge sharing and capacity building among practitioners and researchers.

The European Arctic is commonly thought of as a pristine and homogeneous area. In reality, it is a diverse region experiencing growth relying on natural resource extraction. Despite local communities being primarily affected by industry activities, most socioeconomic impact assessments are conducted at the macro level. This study addresses this gap by examining the impacts of economic activities on local communities. Using secondary data and semi-structured interviews from 15 hubs in five European Arctic countries, the study draws on locally relevant insights. Findings indicate that many activities focus on economic growth, and existing strategies do not adequately address biophysical boundaries. Furthermore, alternative activities need to be developed in a more balanced manner that aligns with the needs of indigenous and local communities. Finally, participation of various actors in future developments is critical to reduce the negative impacts of industry activities.

Reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) projects and programmes promise to deliver performance-based, cost-effective climate change mitigation. Fifteen years after its conception, we analysed the rigorous counterfactual-based evidence for environmental and welfare effects from such national and subnational initiatives, along with a Theory of Change. Using machine-learning tools for literature review, we compared 32 quantitative studies including 26 primary forest-related and 12 socioeconomic effect sizes. Average environmental impacts were positively significant yet moderately sized, comparable to impacts from other conservation tools, and mostly impermanent over time. Socioeconomic impacts were welfare-neutral to slightly positive. Moderator analysis showed that environmental additionality was likely restricted by project proponents’ adverse spatial targeting of low-threat areas. Scarce funding flows from carbon markets and ill-enforced conditionality probably also limited impacts. Hence, important policy and implementation lessons emerge for boosting effectiveness in the current global transition towards larger-scale, jurisdictional action.

Pastoralism is a livelihood system for millions of people around the world and a great majority of them are found in Africa. The indigenous knowledge and strategies on pastoralism are not well understood and properly documented. Hence, this study sheds light on location-specific indigenous climate change adaptation strategies and explores the pastoralist and agro-pastoralist households’ perceptions against the meteorological records. Data were collected from 191 sample households, 12 key informants, 32 focus group participants, and National Meteorological Services. The results reveal that there is a high climate variability (CV = 30), high rainfall intensity, and longer dry periods. Almost every year the Rainfall seasonality index (SI) value predicts a longer dry season. The community’s perception matched with recorded climate data of the past 36 years and identified 10 major climate extremes orally recounted in history. Indigenous strategies include indigenous weather forecasts, mating calendar, destocking, herd mobility, herd diversification, traditional rotational grazing system (‘Seri’), and also emerging adaptation strategies (farming, petty trade, handcraft, charcoal sale, and casual labor) utilized as a result of the severity of climate variability and extremes in the region. The results indicate that emerging adaptation strategies are replacing the preexisting pastoralist livelihood system and that indigenous strategies need support to withstand the current and predicted weather and climate variability in the sites. Pastoralists and agro-pastoralists will be in a better position to adapt to the consequences of climate variability and extremes if indigenous institutions are revitalized with innovations.

Purpose of Review Agroforestry and urban forestry have evolved mainly as separate disciplines, although they share a long history of tree cultivation in man-made environments. Here, we review their common threads, exploring how trees in both systems interact with and shape their environments. We examine common themes and methodologies – ranging from tree growth dynamics to environmental stressors, ecosystem services provision, and questions of governance – and identify opportunities for synergies between these fields. Recent Findings We emphasize the potential of agroforestry and urban forestry for enhancing multifunctional landscapes. Geographical divides in research are evident, with agroforestry predominantly studied in the Global South and urban forestry receiving more attention in the Global North. However, significant research gaps provide avenues for collaboration, for instance, addressing challenges in capturing the monetary and socio-cultural value of ecosystem services and environmental justice considerations. Summary In light of the growing need for integrated approaches in addressing contemporary challenges, from climate change mitigation and adaptation to community well-being, our review explores what these research fields can learn from each other and provides recommendations for fostering greater interdisciplinary dialogue and new avenues for collaborations in a meaningful and synergistic manner, aiming to advance policy, research, and practice in agroforestry and urban forestry.

Resilience is commonly addressed when dealing with the sustainable planning and management of social–ecological systems, but we lack a unified framework for its quantitative assessment and application. We present an operational resilience framework (ORF) based on recognizing and relating several elements: system variables (e.g., ecosystem services), disturbances and stressors acting at given spatiotemporal scales, a reference state, and metrics comparing the observed system variables to the reference state. These elements fit into a rationale aimed at identifying resilience predictors suitable to be managed and co-drivers which describe non-manageable context, reflecting the mechanisms involved in resilience. By a systematic search of the presence of the ORF concepts in 453 empirical studies assessing resilience, we corroborate that ORF can be applied to studies on forest social–ecological systems. This literature survey shows that ORF elements are commonly recognized, although the logical narrative relating them is not always explicit, particularly in socioeconomic-focused studies. We advocate that the proposed ORF allows to standardize the terminology and to frame and measure resilience, allowing sounder comparisons and better-supported recommendations for the improvement of resilience in social–ecological systems, particularly in forest systems.

This paper addresses knowledge gaps related to implementation of corporate zero deforestation commitments (ZDCs). Drawing on an analytical framework of organizational change, we scrutinize changes and processes internal to a company in adjusting to zero deforestation supply chains. The empirical data consists of 48 online questionnaires and 49 online interviews with actors involved in forest-risk commodity supply chains, both internal actors in companies and external actors (e.g., non-governmental organizations). Concerning organizational changes, the findings show that diverse drivers have triggered companies to adopt ZDCs, but most are external drivers. Organizational change following ZDCs has taken place within companies but only to a limited extent. Our study concludes that while corporate ZDCs can be seen as having advanced private governance in the fight against deforestation, more is needed still for effective implementation. Public governance and regulations could play an increasing role in stimulating adoption and implementation of private governance initiatives, like corporate ZDCs.

The world is currently facing uncertainty caused by environmental, social, and economic changes and by political shocks. Fostering social-ecological resilience by enhancing forests’ ability to provide a range of ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, habitat provision, and sustainable livelihoods, is key to addressing such uncertainty. However, policy makers and managers currently lack a clear understanding of how to operationalise the shaping of resilience through the combined challenges of climate change, the biodiversity crisis, and changes in societal demand. Based on a scientific literature review, we identified a set of actions related to ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, and disturbance and pressure impacts that forest managers and policy makers should attend to enhance the resilience of European forest systems. We conclude that the resilience shaping of forests should (1) adopt an operational approach, which is currently lacking, (2) identify and address existing and future trade-offs while reinforcing win–wins and (3) attend to local particularities through an adaptive management approach. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-024-02006-7.

Process-based forest models combine biological, physical, and chemical process understanding to simulate forest dynamics as an emergent property of the system. As such, they are valuable tools to investigate the effects of climate change on forest ecosystems. Specifically, they allow testing of hypotheses regarding long-term ecosystem dynamics and provide means to assess the impacts of climate scenarios on future forest development. As a consequence, numerous local-scale simulation studies have been conducted over the past decades to assess the impacts of climate change on forests. These studies apply the best available models tailored to local conditions, parameterized and evaluated by local experts. However, this treasure trove of knowledge on climate change responses remains underexplored to date, as a consistent and harmonized dataset of local model simulations is missing. Here, our objectives were (i) to compile existing local simulations on forest development under climate change in Europe in a common database, (ii) to harmonize them to a common suite of output variables, and (iii) to provide a standardized vector of auxiliary environmental variables for each simulated location to aid subsequent investigations. Our dataset of European stand- and landscape-level forest simulations contains over 1.1 million simulation runs representing 135 million simulation years for more than 13,000 unique locations spread across Europe. The data were harmonized to consistently describe forest development in terms of stand structure (dominant height), composition (dominant species, admixed species), and functioning (leaf area index). Auxiliary variables provided include consistent daily climate information (temperature, precipitation, radiation, vapor pressure deficit) as well as information on local site conditions (soil depth, soil physical properties, soil water holding capacity, plant-available nitrogen). The present dataset facilitates analyses across models and locations, with the aim to better harness the valuable information contained in local simulations for large-scale policy support, and for fostering a deeper understanding of the effects of climate change on forest ecosystems in Europe.

Background Northern ecosystems are strongly influenced by herbivores that differ in their impacts on the ecosystem. Yet the role of herbivore diversity in shaping the structure and functioning of tundra ecosystems has been overlooked. With climate and land-use changes causing rapid shifts in Arctic species assemblages, a better understanding of the consequences of herbivore diversity changes for tundra ecosystem functioning is urgently needed. This systematic review synthesizes available evidence on the effects of herbivore diversity on different processes, functions, and properties of tundra ecosystems. Methods Following a published protocol, our systematic review combined primary field studies retrieved from bibliographic databases, search engines and specialist websites that compared tundra ecosystem responses to different levels of vertebrate and invertebrate herbivore diversity. We used the number of functional groups of herbivores (i.e., functional group richness) as a measure of the diversity of the herbivore assemblage. We screened titles, abstracts, and full texts of studies using pre-defined eligibility criteria. We critically appraised the validity of the studies, tested the influence of different moderators, and conducted sensitivity analyses. Quantitative synthesis (i.e., calculation of effect sizes) was performed for ecosystem responses reported by at least five articles and meta-regressions including the effects of potential modifiers for those reported by at least 10 articles. Review findings The literature searches retrieved 5944 articles. After screening titles, abstracts, and full texts, 201 articles including 3713 studies (i.e., individual comparisons) were deemed relevant for the systematic review, with 2844 of these studies included in quantitative syntheses. The available evidence base on the effects of herbivore diversity on tundra ecosystems is concentrated around well-established research locations and focuses mainly on the impacts of vertebrate herbivores on vegetation. Overall, greater herbivore diversity led to increased abundance of feeding marks by herbivores and soil temperature, and to reduced total abundance of plants, graminoids, forbs, and litter, plant leaf size, plant height, and moss depth, but the effects of herbivore diversity were difficult to tease apart from those of excluding vertebrate herbivores. The effects of different functional groups of herbivores on graminoid and lichen abundance compensated each other, leading to no net effects when herbivore effects were combined. In turn, smaller herbivores and large-bodied herbivores only reduced plant height when occurring together but not when occurring separately. Greater herbivore diversity increased plant diversity in graminoid tundra but not in other habitat types. Conclusions This systematic review underscores the importance of herbivore diversity in shaping the structure and function of Arctic ecosystems, with different functional groups of herbivores exerting additive or compensatory effects that can be modulated by environmental conditions. Still, many challenges remain to fully understand the complex impacts of herbivore diversity on tundra ecosystems. Future studies should explicitly address the role of herbivore diversity beyond presence-absence, targeting a broader range of ecosystem responses and explicitly including invertebrate herbivores. A better understanding of the role of herbivore diversity will enhance our ability to predict whether and where shifts in herbivore assemblages might mitigate or further amplify the impacts of environmental change on Arctic ecosystems.

In transitioning to a carbon‐neutral chemical industry, the intake of fossil feedstocks will have to be reduced by maximizing end‐of‐life product recycling and introducing alternative feedstocks based on renewable carbon. This perspective article analyses the potential of domestically grown and sourced woody biomass for the supply of renewable carbon for chemicals in Europe. The European chemical industry can become a major consumer of woody biomass in a context where burning wood for energy production is viewed as an unsustainable practice.

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) provide conditional incentives for forest conservation. PES short-term effects on deforestation are well-documented, but we know less about program effectiveness when participation is sustained over time. Here, we assess the impact of consecutive renewals of PES contracts on deforestation and forest degradation in three municipalities of the Selva Lacandona (Chiapas, Mexico). PES reduced deforestation both after a single 5-year contract and after two consecutive contracts, but the impacts are only detectable in higher deforestation-risk parcels. Enrollment duration increases PES impact in these parcels, which suggests a positive cumulative effect over time. These findings suggest that improved spatial targeting and longer-term enrollment are key enabling factors to improve forest conservation outcomes in agricultural frontiers. Payments for Ecosystem (or "Environmental") Services (PES) have become a prominent incentive-based environmental intervention since the 1990s 1. PES schemes often involve short-term contracts (e.g., 2-5 years) with periodic monetary or in-kind payments to landholders. Payments are disbursed in exchange for natural resource management practices, helping to provide key ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and water 2. In the Global South, many PES programs also aim to achieve poverty alleviation and other socioeconomic goals 3,4. Compared to a counterfactual scenario of no-PES, research has shown that on average PES have induced positive but small impacts on avoided deforestation 5-7 , and that these impacts vary depending on context and implementation features. PES incentives may not always be attractive enough to enroll all forests at risk of deforestation and/or land managers may only enroll the fraction of their property that they are least likely to deforest whilst continuing forest clearing activities in non-enrolled lands (adverse selection bias) 2. Additionally , PES programs may lack sufficient technical assistance or capacities for compliance enforcement 8. In some contexts, PES have unintendedly displaced deforestation or forest degradation pressures to non-enrolled lands (leakage) 9. Modest PES performance often results from programs implemented in "high and far" sites facing low deforestation risk, a low-hanging fruit strategy also across other forest conservation interventions, notably protected areas and community-based forest conservation 10 .

The battle against methane emissions has evolved into a global mission, with 150 producing countries worldwide, including the United States, Canada, Germany, Australia, and others, pledging their commitment to the Global Methane Pledge. This new initiative was introduced in 2021 during COP26 in Glasgow, United Kingdom, as part of the ongoing efforts to implement the Paris Agreement. The primary objective of this Agreement is a collective endeavour to reduce methane emissions by 30% by the year 2030. In this article, the authors analyse current methane emissions and provide recommendations to the country’s government regarding its participation in the Global Methane Pledge by utilising official national statistical data and insights from the EIA and employing predictive modelling techniques.