New EU guidelines on afforestation and tree planting support adaptation

The European Commission recently published new "Guidelines for biodiversity-friendly afforestation, reforestation and tree planting" with practical recommendations on how to take climate change into account when establishing new forests, restoring existing forests or planting trees in urban and rural environments. These guidelines support authorities, forest and land owners, managers and civil society to better implement biodiversity-friendly afforestation, reforestation and tree planting projects at the local level.
Specifically, they support the European Green Deal commitment to improve the EU's forested area in terms of both quantity and quality. Through both active planting and natural regeneration, these guidelines represent one of the key milestones for realizing the EU's commitment to plant an additional 3 billion trees by 2030. They deal with farmland afforestation initiatives; forest restoration measures on forest land, including restoration measures; and by planting trees in urban and suburban environments, as well as on agricultural land (agroforestry).