Forests provide a series of ecosystem services that are crucial to our society. In the European Union (EU), forests account for approximately 38% of the total land surface 1 . These forests are important carbon sinks, and their conservation efforts are vital for the EU’s vision of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 2 . However, the increasing demand for forest services and products, driven by the bioeconomy, poses challenges for sustainable forest management. Here we use fine-scale satellite data to observe an increase in the harvested forest area (49 per cent) and an increase in biomass loss (69 per cent) over Europe for the period of 2016–2018 relative to 2011–2015, with large losses occurring on the Iberian Peninsula and in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Satellite imagery further reveals that the average patch size of harvested area increased by 34 per cent across Europe, with potential effects on biodiversity, soil erosion and water regulation. The increase in the rate of forest harvest is the result of the recent expansion of wood markets, as suggested by econometric indicators on forestry, wood-based bioenergy and international trade. If such a high rate of forest harvest continues, the post-2020 EU vision of forest-based climate mitigation may be hampered, and the additional carbon losses from forests would require extra emission reductions in other sectors in order to reach climate neutrality by 2050 3 . Fine-scale satellite data are used to quantify forest harvest rates in 26 European countries, finding an increase in harvested forest area of 49% and an increase in biomass loss of 69% between 2011–2015 and 2016–2018.

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2015 年后欧洲森林砍伐面积突然增加

森林提供了一系列对我们的社会至关重要的生态系统服务。在欧盟 (EU)，森林约占陆地总面积的 38% 1 。这些森林是重要的碳汇，它们的保护工作对于欧盟到 2050 年实现气候中和的愿景至关重要 2 。然而，在生物经济的推动下，对森林服务和产品的需求不断增加，这对可持续森林管理提出了挑战。在这里，我们使用精细尺度的卫星数据观察到，与 2011-2015 年相比，2016-2018 年期间欧洲的采伐森林面积增加（49%）和生物量损失增加（69%），其中损失发生在伊比利亚半岛以及北欧和波罗的海国家。卫星图像进一步显示，整个欧洲的收获面积平均面积增加了 34%，对生物多样性、土壤侵蚀和水调节产生了潜在影响。正如林业、基于木材的生物能源和国际贸易的计量经济指标所表明的那样，森林采伐率的提高是近期木材市场扩张的结果。如果如此高的森林采伐率继续下去，2020 年后欧盟以森林为基础的气候减缓愿景可能会受到阻碍，森林造成的额外碳损失将需要其他部门额外减少排放，以便到 2050 年实现气候中和 3 . 精细尺度的卫星数据用于量化 26 个欧洲国家的森林采伐率，