ANNEX VI LIST OF BIODIVERSITY INDICATORS FOR FOREST ECOSYSTEMS REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 12(2) AND 12(3)

Indicator

Description, units, and methodology for determining and monitoring the indicator

Standing deadwood

Description: This indicator shows the amount of non-living standing woody biomass in forest and other wooded land.

Unit: m3/ha.

Methodology: as developed and used by FOREST EUROPE, State of Europe’s Forests 2020, FOREST EUROPE 2020, and in the description of national forest inventories in Tomppo E. et al., National Forest Inventories, Pathways for Common Reporting, Springer, 2010, and taking into account the methodology as set out in Annex V to Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 in accordance with the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.

Lying deadwood

Description: This indicator shows the amount of non-living woody biomass lying on the ground in forest and other wooded land.

Unit: m3/ha.

Methodology: as developed and used by FOREST EUROPE, State of Europe’s Forests 2020, FOREST EUROPE 2020, and in the description of national forest inventories in Tomppo E. et al., National Forest Inventories, Pathways for Common Reporting, Springer, 2010, and taking into account the methodology as set out in Annex V to Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 in accordance with the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.

Share of forests with uneven-aged structure

Description: This indicator refers to the share of forests available for wood supply (FAWS) with uneven-aged structure in forests as compared to even-aged structure in forests.

Unit: Percent of FAWS with uneven-aged structure.

Methodology: as developed and used by FOREST EUROPE, State of Europe’s Forests 2020, FOREST EUROPE 2020, and in the description of national forest inventories in Tomppo E. et al., National Forest Inventories, Pathways for Common Reporting, Springer, 2010.

Forest connectivity

Description: Forest connectivity is the degree of compactness of forest covered areas. It is defined in the range of 0 to 100.

Unit: Index.

Methodology: as developed by FAO, Vogt P., et al., FAO – State of the World’s Forests: Forest Fragmentation, JRC Technical Report, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2019.

Common forest birds index

Description: The forest bird indicator describes trends in the abundance of common forest birds across their European ranges over time. It is a composite index created from observational data of bird species characteristic for forest habitats in Europe. The index is based on a specific list of species in each Member State.

Unit: Index.

Methodology: Brlík et al. Long-term and large-scale multispecies dataset tracking population changes of common European breeding birds, Sci Data 8, 21. 2021.

Stock of organic carbon

Description: This indicator describes the stock of organic carbon in the litter and in the mineral soil at a depth of 0 to 30 cm in forest ecosystems.

Unit: Tonnes organic carbon/ha.

Methodology: as set out in Annex V to Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 in accordance with the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, and as supported by the Land Use and Coverage Area frame Survey (LUCAS) Soil, Jones A. et al., LUCAS Soil 2022, JRC technical report, Publications Office of the European Union, 2021.

Share of forest dominated by native tree species

Description: Share of forest and other wooded land dominated by (>50 % coverage) native tree species.

Unit: Percent.

Methodology: as developed and used by FOREST EUROPE, State of Europe’s Forests 2020, FOREST EUROPE 2020, and in the description of national forest inventories in Tomppo E. et al., National Forest Inventories, Pathways for Common Reporting, Springer, 2010.

Tree species diversity

Description: This indicator describes the mean number of tree species occurring in forest areas.

Unit: Index.

Methodology: Based on FOREST EUROPE, State of Europe’s Forests 2020, FOREST EUROPE 2020, and in the description of national forest inventories in Tomppo E. et al., National Forest Inventories, Pathways for Common Reporting, Springer, 2010.