05/08/2026
Sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees 🌳 but what is a forest, exactly? Even in science-based and policy-making circles, there is an ongoing debate about this.
💡However, most forest definitions agree on thresholds e.g. land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. Often this does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use.
By any name, tree cover is vital for European and global environmental health in several areas:
🌿Carbon storage & climate regulation – Dense canopies absorb CO₂ through photosynthesis, helping to mitigate climate change and stabilise the climate system
🌿Biodiversity support – Forests host more than half of terrestrial species, providing habitats and ecological corridors essential for wildlife conservation
🌿Ecosystem services – Tree cover delivers water regulation, soil protection, and recreation benefits, contributing to human well‑being and sustainable development .
High‑resolution tree‑cover data (e.g., the High‑Resolution Layer) enable EU authorities to track forest loss, assess the impact of agriculture and logging, and enforce regulations such as the Forest Strategy and Nature Restoration Law.
Overall, maintaining and restoring tree cover is a cornerstone of Europe’s climate change mitigation, biodiversity preservation, and land management strategies.
👋Want to make a difference? Under the European Green Deal, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 commits to planting at least 3 billion additional trees in the EU by 2030.
🌿As an organisation, you can join the initiative right here: https://forest.eea.europa.eu/policy-and-reporting/3-billion-trees
