Assessing disturbances in surviving primary forests of Europe

Abstract

Primary forests are of paramount importance for biodiversity conservation and the provision of ecosystem services. In Europe, these forests are scarce and threatened by human activities. However, a comprehensive assessment of the magnitude of disturbances in these forests is lacking, due in part to their incomplete mapping. We sought to provide a systematic assessment of disturbances in primary forests in Europe based on remotely sensed imagery from 1986 to 2020. We assessed the total area disturbed, rate of area disturbed, and disturbance severity, at the country, biogeographical, and continental level. Maps of potential primary forests were used to mitigate gaps in maps of documented primary forests. We found a widespread and significant increase in primary forest disturbance rates across Europe and heightened disturbance severity in many biogeographical regions. These findings are consistent with current evidence and associate the ongoing decline of primary forests in Europe with human activity in many jurisdictions. Considering the limited extent of primary forests in Europe and the high risk of their further loss, urgent and decisive measures are imperative to ensure the strict protection of remnants of these invaluable forests. This includes the establishment of protected areas around primary forests, expansion of old-growth zones around small primary forest fragments, and rewilding efforts.