In order to promote forest management practices that are friendly to the environment and biodiversity, the European Union (EU) Directorate-General for Environment, working together with experts and scientists from the member states, has drawn up forest management guidelines entitled “Closer to Nature”.
One of the priorities of the European Green Deal and the EU biodiversity strategy is to encourage the restoration of biodiversity, including in forests. The strategy highlights sustainable forest management as one of the significant nature-based tools in the fight against climate change.
The guidelines prepared by the Directorate-General for Environment offer theoretical and practical information about commercial and natural forests, examples of good practice and recommendations that will be useful both to the responsible state institutions and to the sector's most important players, including forest owners and managers. The authors emphasise that the document is intended for use outside protected nature areas as well.