Counting trees together in the EU
Summary
The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union (EU), has long sought to improve the monitoring of one of Europe's critical resources, its forests. Forests and the pressures they face need not acknowledge political boundaries, yet monitoring is scattered and heterogeneous, delivering an uncoordinated patchwork of outdated, incomplete information from across member states' individual monitoring efforts. However, in late 2025, the European Parliament rejected the proposed E
Content
# Counting trees together in the EU
*Published: 2026 Feb 26*
The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union (EU), has long
sought to improve the monitoring of one of Europe's critical resources, its
forests. Forests and the pressures they face need not acknowledge political
boundaries, yet monitoring is scattered and heterogeneous, delivering an
uncoordinated patchwork of outdated, incomplete information from across member
states' individual monitoring efforts. However, in late 2025, the European
Parliament rejected the proposed EU forest monitoring law that aimed at
enhancing, harmonizing, and coordinating European forest monitoring. Despite
this setback, the need for better monitoring and analysis at EU scale grows. New
opportunities arise to create a workable and bottom-up solution.
DOI: 10.1126/science.aee7957