Norway’s forests have developed over thousands of years, shaped by natural dynamics, climate changes, species migration, and recurring disturbances. These processes have created a remarkable diversity of habitats and ecological niches, forming the foundation for Norway’s rich forest biodiversity. Alongside these natural influences, human activity has left a profound mark. From the 1500s onward, timber became an important export commodity, and centuries of selective logging gradually reduced forest volume, tree sizes, and stand ages. By the late 1800s, intensive harvesting for timber and the emerging pulp and paper industry had significantly altered the landscape.

Today’s natural forests are the legacy of this long history. Using a strict definition based on old stand age, structural complexity, and absence of visible human impacts, only about 2% of the forested land qualifies as natural forest.

In 2024, a broad coalition of researchers urged the government to map and register the country’s remaining natural forests, warning that ongoing losses combined with insufficient documentation could lead to irreversible biodiversity decline. In response, this project was established with two main goals:

• Create a national map of forest areas that have not been clear-cut since 1940.
• Assess the degree of naturalness across all Norwegian forests.

By delivering this knowledge, the project will provide a solid foundation for safeguarding Norway’s last natural forests and supporting sustainable forest management for the future.

Photo: Old spruce forest in Trysil (Ministry of Agriculture and Food)

Forests play a critical role in regulating the climate, preserving biodiversity, and supporting livelihoods — yet they remain under threat from deforestation, degradation, and mismanagement. Despite the wealth of satellite data available today, many institutions still lack actionable, policy-relevant tools to monitor forest change effectively.

WorldForest is a new initiative funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop cutting-edge satellite tools for forest monitoring. It aims to support climate and biodiversity policies by working with governments, researchers, and environmental organizations around the world.

Key focus areas

• Understanding Forest: Mapping forest types and structure to support planning, biodiversity protection, and EU forest policies.
• Detecting Change: Tracking forest loss, degradation, and recovery to inform climate action and REDD+ monitoring.
• Measuring Carbon & Biomass: Estimating forest carbon stocks to support national GHG inventories and global climate goals.
• Monitoring Mangrove Forests: Monitoring Mangrove Forest to support coastal resilience, biodiversity, and blue carbon strategies.

https://esa-worldforest.org/

With a warmer climate and fewer grazing domestic animals in the Norwegian mountains, the forests are increasingly moving higher up in the mountains. This means that previously open mountain areas dominated by lichens and heathers are slowly turning into areas dominated by shrubs and mountain forests. Because of this, evapotranspiration from the mountain areas in Norway will increase.

A three-year research project (2025-2027) at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) will investigate the effect of the expansion of the treeline on evapotranspiration. Since evapotranspiration is an important component of the water balance, it is expected that more evapotranspiration will reduce runoff to Norwegian streams and rivers. This in turn could reduce Norway’s future hydropower potential, especially when we know that many of the hydropower reservoirs are in mountainous areas subject to forest migration.

The research project will collect field data on evapotranspiration and soil moisture at Dagali. Four field locations have been established, respectively within coniferous forest, mountain birch forest, shrubs, and lichen heaths.

The data collected will provide an important understanding of differences in evapotranspiration for vegetation above and below the treeline.