ETC/BD Working paper F/2016: Scoping document - Justification and guidelines for a European register of old growth forests
01 Apr 2016
Jerome Bailly-Maitre
Based on the ETCBD Technical Working papers "Information related to European old growth forests" (Garcia et al., 2015) which reviews the concept of old growth forest and other related terms, this document exposes the main recommendations for the implementation of an European "old growth forest" register, its possible structure and related mechanisms to put it in place. After briefly introducing the definitions of old growth forest, benefits of such European register and available information sources and datasets, the report proposes the main guidelines for its implementation and illustrates it through two overviews, focusing on the Scandinavian and the Central and Eastern European countries. Chapter 5 synthesizes the process to operationalize the register and the parties involved. Chapter 6 draws some conclusions. The annexes mainly show tables of available information and standardized factsheets related to the Scandinavian and Central-Eastern examples.
Prepared by: Celia Garcia Feced (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, FR), Håkan Berglund (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE) and Martin Strnad (Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, CZ)
