European Forest Type Map

Forest types are key factors to consider when monitoring forests, particularly in consideration of  the increasing need to assess how climate change is affecting different forests in Europe and beyond. A comprehensive classification system is indeed essential for understanding the diverse forest ecosystems, tracking their changes over time and across various spatial and geographical scales. Moreover, it provides valuable insights on the baseline conditions and current states of forest ecosystems, aiding in decision-making for conservation and resource management. 

A "forest type classification scheme" aims to break down extensive forested areas, like stocked forest land, into smaller, more similar units. This breakdown helps streamline the analysis, interpretation, and communication of forest-related data. In Europe, the European Forest Types (EFT) classification system has demonstrated its effectiveness and user-friendliness in facilitating the comprehension, interpretation, and dissemination of data regarding indicators that depict the conditions and changes within European forests, as well as forest management practices. The EFT, could support a standardised reporting of several forest area related indicators. This includes assessments of biodiversity, organised into ecologically similar groups across the entire European region. However, until now, there was no EFTs map available for Europe.  To produce the map, a comprehensive analysis of relevant spatial datasets available at the European scale, essential for mapping, was first carried out.  Based on the variety of the datasets available, the JRC dataset featuring a comprehensive 39 forest tree species "relative probability of presence (RPP) maps”, was used along with eight different forest masks developed to identify environmental diversity, to accurately identify the different EFT categories. The RPP maps and the forest masks were used as inputs in a rule-based expert system algorithm to identify the 14 EFT categories and provide a thorough explanation for the classification of the EFT categories. The raster map created at a scale of 100 metres enabled the production of the first consistent EFTs maps across Europe and marked a significant advancement, providing a systematic means of classifying forest areas into EFTs, filling a critical gap in the spatial monitoring and reporting of forest indicators in the context of international frameworks. Moreover, existing EFTs maps can effectively be used as a basis for forest monitoring and support for decision-making, including forest-based adaptation and mitigation needs.

This study was funded by the Horizon Europe Project OptFor-EU (Grant agreement n°101060554).