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Indicators for Integrative Forest Management

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Jan 22, 2026
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Deadwood in Schwarzwald, Germany (photo: Lucia Seebach)

How can we tell if Integrative Forest Management is really working? Here, we introduce a set of 17 practical indicators designed to measure biodiversity, resilience, ecosystem services, and climate adaptation across Europe’s forests. Co-created with forest managers, policymakers, and researchers in seven Living Labs, these indicators turn a holistic vision into measurable action. This way, they aim at helping bridge the gap between policy ambitions and on-the-ground forest management in a rapidly changing world.

To support Integrative Forest Management (IFM) across Europe, the TRANSFORMIT project has developed a set of 17 key indicators that make it possible to measure progress, monitor outcomes, and report results consistently from local to European policy levels. Designed as practical tools, these indicators capture forest biodiversity, resilience, ecosystem services, and climate adaptation, while aligning with major policy frameworks such as the EU Green Deal, the EU Biodiversity Strategy, and the New EU Forest Strategy 2030. Each indicator is accompanied by a detailed factsheet outlining its rationale, measurement methods, data sources, and potential trade-offs, ensuring it can be applied in real-world forest management.

The indicator system emerged through a collaborative, multi-stage process. An initial pool of around 80 candidate indicators was drawn from international frameworks, previous research projects, and certification schemes. Through iterative workshops with seven Living Labs across Europe, forest managers, policymakers, researchers, conservationists, and community representatives jointly assessed feasibility, relevance, and regional applicability. This co-creative journey gradually refined the long list into a focused and usable set of 17 indicators grounded in both science and practice.

Together, these indicators form the backbone of IFM, translating a holistic vision of forest management into measurable action. They help connect policy ambitions with on-the-ground decisions, supporting resilient, diverse forests in a rapidly changing world.

- Indicator 1: Disturbed or damaged forest area
- Indicator 2: Recreation in forests
- Indicator 3: Dead wood
- Indicator 4: Habitat trees
- Indicator 5: Tree species abundance & distribution
- Indicator 6: Regeneration
- Indicator 7: Native and non-native tree species/ provenances and which of them are site-adapted
- Indicator 8: Timber production potential
- Indicator 9: Management intensity in forest area available for wood supply
- Indicator 10: Forest carbon
- Indicator 11: Revenue of forest enterprises
- Indicator 12: Education and training
- Indicator 13: Forest structure
- Indicator 14: Plan for the retention of valuable structures in forests
- Indicator 15: Forest risk mitigation and climate change adaptation plan
- Indicator 16: Forest management plan
- Indicator 17: Protected forest area
- Overall graph: Key Indicators for Integrative Forest Management (IFM)

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Source/Author(s)
  • Stefanie Linser
  • Isidora Dabic
Topic
  • Integrative Forest Management
  • Social & Stakeholder
Stakeholders
  • Landowners & Practitioners
  • Planners & Implementers
  • Policy Actors
Purpose
  • Climate change mitigation
  • Risk mitigation and disturbance prevention
  • Specific habitats (deadwood, microhabitats, habitat types,...)
  • Show 3 more