Mapping of a field: A systematic review of reviews on forestry and the forest-based sector in Europe
Imagine how many printed pages 35,015 review articles would fill! A new publication from our EUFORE work was led by the University of Copenhagen, taking stock of Europe’s forestry and forest-based sector by screening an impressive 35,015 reviews.
Their analysis reveals that:
- Research is heavily focused on management, biodiversity, and climate change.
- South-Eastern Europe is least represented, showing uneven contributions.
- Structural biases shape topics, geography, and methods, which means we may only see part of the picture.
The authors also suggest that to strengthen the science-policy interface in forests & food systems, we need more than systematic reviews. Future research should:
- Embrace diverse methods, including qualitative & practice-based evidence
- Support underrepresented topics & regions, integrating local & Indigenous knowledge
- Use AI tools for inclusivity, but keep manual quality checks
- Build institutional capacity & cross-sector collaboration
- Train researchers & policymakers in evidence synthesis
- Make findings accessible via briefs, visuals & interactive platforms
- Monitor how evidence shapes policy
Read the full article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103693
Suggested citation: M. Moure, C.-E. Pless, M. Lovrić, A. Giurca, O. Brendel, I. Zivojinovic, J. García-Jaca, J. Chalard, S. Krajter Ostoić, A. Sergent, D. Vuletić, N. Strange, Mapping of a field: A systematic review of reviews on forestry and the forest-based sector in Europe, Forest Policy and Economics, Volume 183, 2026,
103693,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103693.