Consistent and Harmonized Forest Statistics for Forest-use Intensity Analyses Across Europe (2000–2023)

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Abstract. Forests play a crucial role in Europe as carbon sinks, biodiversity reservoirs, and sources of renewable raw materials. Reliable Europe-wide statistics on forest biomass stocks, forest area, and harvest at national and subnational scales are essential for monitoring biomass dynamics and supporting sustainable forest management. However, the availability of such data remains incomplete, and differences in definitions, methodologies, and reporting standards introduce substantial uncertainties that hinder robust interpretation. Here, we present EuFor, an open-access database of key forest indicators for 38 European countries, derived from National Forest Inventories (NFIs), census statistics, and datasets from international organizations. It is openly available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20815146. EuFor consists of two subsets: (i) EuFor-reported, a compilation of primary statistical data for 1990–2023, and (ii) EuFor-harmonized, a stock-flow consistent annual time series of forest area, roundwood volumes of growing stock and harvest for 2000–2023 across 21 national and 193 subnational units. EuFor shows near-perfect agreement with an authoritative reference dataset at the European aggregate level. At the country level, however, discrepancies vary substantially. Agreement is highest for forest area (mean relative deviation: 3.2 %; mean Pearson correlation: r = 0.743), followed by growing stock (7.4 %; r = 0.872), and harvest (14.5 %; r = 0.654). We further derived four indicators of forest-use intensity. Data uncertainties propagated into these estimates, leaving the direction of change ambiguous in 20 % of assessments. Moreover, the indicators often revealed contrasting spatial patterns and trends, highlighting both substantial uncertainty in trend interpretation and the multidimensional nature of forest-use intensity. By providing open-access, harmonized forest statistics together with an explicit assessment of uncertainty, EuFor offers a valuable resource for future analyses of forest biomass dynamics, carbon balances, forest-use intensity, and sustainable forest management across Europe.

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