The main objective of the present report is a condensed description of the condition of forests in Europe, as it has been assessed by transnational and national surveys of EC and UN/ECE. The report presents survey results from 34 European countries, referring to about 33 000 sample plots with about 620 000 sample trees. Of 222 million hectares of forests in Europe as reported by the participating countries, around 184 million hectares have been covered by the surveys (16 million more than in 1991). The results of the 1992 survey indicate that a significant proportion of forests in Europe shows signs of defoliation and/or discolouration. The transnational survey results for 1992 revealed that 23.5% of the total sample of around 95 000 trees had been defoliated by more than 25% and are thus classified as damaged. The respective value in 1991 was 22.2%, which represents an increase of 1.3 percent points in a year. In 1992 the sahre of trees with a discolouration of more than 10% was 10.1 of the total tree sample, which is a decrease of 0.5% percent points compared with the prevous year (10.6%). As regards the two main species groups, 22,2% of the total broadleaves were damaged in 1992. This indicates that the broadleaves are no longer in a clearly better condition than the conifers, of which 24.3% were damaged. Among the most common species, the most severely affected broadleaved species was Quercus suber with 32.7% damaged trees, followed by Quercus spp. (deciduous) with 23.7% trees damaged. Among the conifers, Abies spp. and Picea spp. showed the highest percentages of trees classified as damaged (29.8% and 25.7%, respectively). In the subsample of common trees, the proportion damaged increased between 1988 and 1992 in 11 out of the 12 species analyzed. Among the conifers, Picea sitchensis had the highest proportion of damaged trees throughout this period and also showed the greatest increase, from 28.8% in 1988 to 36.8% in 1992. The greatest increase in the proportion of trees damaged occurred in Pinus nigra, with 4.1% in 1988 and 21.3% in 1992. Amongst broadleaved species, there was a dramatic increase in damage in Quercus suber, from 0.6% in 1988 to 42.6% in 1990. Damage in Quercus robur was the highest among broadleaved species for the period as a whole and increased from 27.0% in 1988 to 35.3% in 1992. In the national surveys a loss of needles/leaves was observed to a greater extent in all participating countries. Direct comparison of data between countries is not appropriate, however participating countries have been placed into three groups. In three of the 31 countries Which reported results, the percentage of sample trees classified as damaged was lower than 10%. In 14 countries the respective percentage ranged between greater 10% and 20% an in the remaining 14 countries this percentage exceeded 20%. In both the national and the ...
