An overview of forest operations in Europe within the concept of Sustainable Forest Operations (SFO).

The importance of the concepts ‘Sustainability’ and ‘Sustainable Development’ has increased in recent years in order to meet the changing needs of society. The forest sector and research activities should support sustainability to enhance all the benefits from the various functions of forests and the ecosystem. Forest operations play a key role in forest management and wood production, thus leading to an important role in the sustainability of the forest sector. In recent years, within the IUFRO Task Force on Climate Change and Forest Health, the new paradigm of ‘Sustainable Forest Operations – SFO’ has been developed in order to change the approach to wood harvesting. The aim of this contribution is to give an overview of forest operation issues in Europe, considering the main relations between forest management, wood production, environment and society in the light of the SFO paradigm. Wood production is strategic worldwide, but it cannot compromise the efficiency of forests, increase environmental impact or affect social and economic issues. In this context, Europe with its 1015 million hectares of forest is an important geographic area. However, many different social, economic and environmental conditions exist on this continent, from north to south and east to west. Moreover, in most European countries, forests play important roles beyond wood production, for example, hydro-geological protection, recreation, pollutant protection, as well as social and cultural services. For these reasons, forest operations have to guarantee environmental protection and enhance the ecosystem functions related to forests while at the same time respecting social needs.