EU forest policy-making (1992-2024): if governance is the solution, what is the problem?

My talk is structured around three guiding questions:

1. What is the problem? 
2. How can governance serve as a solution? 
3. If governance is the solution, what challenges does it introduce, and how can they be addressed? 

Addressing these questions will enable the audience to gain a deeper understanding of the current threats facing Europe’s forests, public perceptions of forests, and the economic realities of forest ownership. This foundation is essential for explaining the motivations driving European policymakers to design policies and legislation for forest governance. In the second part of the talk, I will present new findings from an in-depth study that systematically maps the current landscape of EU forest-related policies and provides a comprehensive overview of governance at the EU level. The results highlight both the extent of policy integration and a simultaneous trend toward increasing fragmentation. The final part of the talk will focus on implementation challenges, showing how the growing accumulation of policy objectives widens the gap between decision-making and practical implementation. I will conclude by outlining several potential pathways to address these challenges.