The European Forest Institute (EFI) has five Research and Development
priority ar- eas: forest sustainability, forestry and possible climate
change, structural changes in markets for forest products and services,
policy analysis, and forest sector informa- tion services and research
methodology. In the area of forest sustainability our most important
activity has been the project "Growth trends of European forests", the
re- sults of which are presented in this book. The project was started
in August 1993 under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Heinrich Spiecker from
the University of Freiburg, Germany, and it is one of the first EFI's
research projects after its establishment in 1993. The main purpose of
the project was to analyse whether site productivity has changed in
European forests during the last decades. While several forest growth
studies have been published at local, re- gional and national levels,
this project has aimed at stimulating a joint effort in iden- tifying
and quantifying possible growth trends and their spatial and temporal
extent at the European level. Debate on forest decline and possible
climate change, as well as considerations re- lated to the long term
supply of wood underline the importance of this project, both from
environmental and industrial points of view. Knowledge on possible
changes in growth trends is vital for the sustainable management of
forest ecosystems.
