All official European Union website addresses are in the europa.eu domain.
See all EU institutions and bodies
An official website of the European Union | How do you know?
Environmental information systems
Forests offer many benefits known as ecosystem services, which are crucial for the environment and human well-being.
Forest ecosystem services
Biodiversity is the base that provides ecosystem services, which are the direct and indirect benefits that humans obtain from ecosystems. Europe’s forests provide many ecosystem services such as renewable resources (e.g. food, water and timber), air and water purification and space for recreation and inspiration. Ecosystem services can be classified into four categories: provisioning services, supporting services, regulating services, and cultural services.
Because of the vast array of forest ecosystem services with a variety of beneficiaries (industry, local landowners, etc.), it is important that the governance of forests is a participatory community process that involves all the concerned stakeholders.
Supporting services
Supporting services aid the functioning of ecosystems, without delivering any products or varying any environmental conditions that directly benefit humans.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is essential to the functioning of forests ecosystems and their resilience with regard to climate change (see biodiversity section).
Habitats
Habitats are assemblages of animals and plants together with their abiotic environment which are essential to make species thrive.
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is the primary process that enables the growth of plants and therefore the inflow of nutrients in forest ecosystems.
Soil
Soil in good conditions and balanced nutrient cycles are essential to forest growth (see soil section).
Provisioning forest ecosystem services
Provisioning services are the services and goods that can be collected or harvested in the forests, such as:
Raw material
Forests provide raw materials (e.g., wood, fibres, gums, resin) for forest products. These renewable resources are essential in a circular economy and for climate mitigation.
Food
Forests yield a variety of food, such as berries, mushrooms, herbs, and honey. In many regions in Europe, hunting game, such as elk, deer, and wild boar, provides a considerable share of wild meat.
Water
Forests can store large amounts of water below ground. These groundwater resources supply drinking water, irrigation water, and industrial process water. Although water availability in the EU is relatively abundant, distribution is not equally distributed. Water is more scarce in the Mediterranean region, especially.
Genetic resources
Forest species form a large pool of genetic resources that are important for designing and constructing new biological, chemical and medical entities.
Regulating forest ecosystem services
Regulating services are the benefits obtained from the regulation function of ecosystem processes such as:
Erosion and flood control
Upstream forest ecosystems can protect built-up areas, farmlands and infrastructure from flooding by regulating water flows and infiltration in the soil. The extensive root systems of forests protect soils and slopes against erosion and landslides, which is important in mountainous areas.
Water purification
Forest soils filter precipitation that infiltrates the soil by removing elements such as nitrogen, replenishing groundwater resources. It also diminishes debris and organic particles to run off to surface water. Water purification is the ecosystem service with the highest economic value in the EU, with forests contributing significantly.
Air purification
Tree crowns filter pollutants from the air, such as nitrogen, sulphur and other chemicals. Coniferous tree species are more effective in air filtering than deciduous tree species because they have needles all year round. Also vegetation structure, and thus forest management, is important for the air filtering capacity.
Climate regulation
Forests are important carbon sinks. CO2 is taken up from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, and carbon is stored in tree biomass and forest soils. The carbon-capturing function of forests is an important contribution to mitigating climate change. In addition, forests contribute to air cooling through evapotranspiration. Temperature regulation: In urban areas, the cooling effect of trees and urban forests is important for climate adaptation.
Pollination regulation
Pollinators are vital for food production and reproduction of plant species. While Europe has seen a big decline in the population of many insect species, forests provide important habitats for insect populations. They are important for their diversity and dispersion through landscapes.
Cultural forest ecosystem services
Cultural services are the non-material benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experience such as:
Recreation
Recreation in nature includes a wide range of activities through which people meet their needs for leisure, fun, as well as participation in social life. Forests are one of the most appreciated ecosystems for recreation and contribute significantly to the economy.
Aesthetic, Intellectual, Spiritual
Forests are highly appreciated for their aesthetic and ecological values closely related to other relational aspects such as cognitive, educational, spiritual, inspirational, cultural heritage and intrinsic values. In many EU countries, forest bathing, forest therapy and funeral forests are becoming increasingly popular.
Ecosystem Service Accounting
Ecosystem services are important for our well-being. However, since they are only partially subject to monetary transactions, they are barely visible in the national accounts which are one of the main tools to monitor the functioning of an economy, supporting policy decisions. Therefore, the United Nations extended the system of national accounts with the satellite ecosystem accounts developed in the framework of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA). In this framework, stocks and flows of ecosystem services as well as their changes are reported in a way which is coherent with the national accounts. Ecosystem services are the connecting concepts between ecosystems and the production and consumption activities of businesses, households and governments. Ecosystem service accounts are presented as either physical or monetary units.
The EU INCA project (Integrated system for Natural Capital and ecosystem services Accounting) was a first attempt to use the accounting framework for seven of the ecosystem services – crop pollination, crop and timber provision, water purification, flood protection, carbon sequestration and recreation in high-value natural areas. Of all ecosystems (including wetlands, cropland, rivers etc.), forests and woodlands represented the highest value of services per hectare in 2012 (see figure below).
The high value of forest ecosystem services highlights their critical role in the economy, environment, and society. These high stakes call for comprehensive strategies that balance economic development with environmental sustainability and social well-being.
Contribution of different ecosystem services in the EU
Forest ecosystems contribute to 47.5% of the total ecosystem services.
The significant contribution of forest ecosystems makes the value supplied by a unit of area of forest land almost 9 times more than the value supplied by a unit of area in urban land.