Data provisioning

Probos is the data authority on forest and timber-related statistics. Reliable statistics and market data on forest and wood are of great importance for policy, research and forest management. Collecting, processing, analysing and communicating statistics has been Probos' core activity for decades.
In the Data provisioning, the focus is on the following topics:

Probos acts as the national correspondent for Forest and Timber Statistics on behalf of the Netherlands for various European reports and surveys.

These activities largely stem from the National data provision, but are also based on external data sources. In this context, Probos works closely with organizations such as Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and the Royal Netherlands Timber Trade Association (VVNH).

In this project, Probos is working with Metabolic and CEI-Bois to identify opportunities to improve long-term carbon storage through the use of wood products in the built environment in the EU and UK.

Carbon capture and storage is key to European climate policy, which recognises the temporary storage of carbon in long-lived products such as construction timber. The use of wood in construction and other long-lived applications helps to store carbon and reduces the dependence on fossil fuels. Wood used in construction stores carbon for many decades, unlike short-lived products that quickly release carbon into the atmosphere through combustion or decomposition.

Since September 2012, forest inventories have been carried out as part of the National Forest Inventories (NFI). NFI-6 took place in 2012 and 2013, NFI-7 ran from 2017 to 2021, and the current NFI-8 covers the period from 2022 to 2026.

The purpose of these inventories is to map the condition of Dutch forests: for example, what is the tree species composition, what is the timber stock in the forest, how much deadwood is available, and how much timber is harvested? As of the current inventories (NFI-8), tree vitality is also being assessed. This provides insight into how healthy (vital) Dutch forests are. By comparing different NDIs, it is also possible to track how forests develop over time. In total, approximately 3,600 monitoring points are distributed across the Netherlands.

Commissioned by GD Holz, the Probos Foundation carries out an analysis on the import and export of wood products on the German market. This analysis is executed based on German statistics that have been made available by Destatis. The analysis is carried out for different product groups and eventually forms the input for the GD Holz Außenhandelsstatistik. With this project Probos helps gain insight in the German timber market.

The European Forest Accounts (EFA) will become a mandatory survey for Eurostat member states from 2025 onwards. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) is primarily responsible for this survey. The EFA addresses various economic aspects of forest (products), such as the value and use of wood, from standing volume to the processing by the wood industry. Making the survey mandatory incentivises an improvement in the quality of the data. Statistics Netherlands has asked the Probos foundation to provide support in this. To this end, 8 activities have been identified, 6 of which have been selected to be carried out by Probos in collaboration with Statistics Netherlands:

In the project ToP DATA (from Tree to Panel – Data for Accurate and Transparent Assessment) Probos Foundation collaborates with W/E Advisors Foundation and SHR to actualise the process data used for environmental impact calculations for cross laminated timber (CLT). A big part of the data that is currently used is aged and poorly traceable, resulting in the absence of a realistic calculation of the environmental impact of this structural element.

The aim of this study is to make further insightful the sustainability and legality of the import of tropical primary and secondary wood products by the EU27+UK. The seven main importing countries (Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany and Spain) together represent approximately 90% of the EU28 primary tropical timber product import. The concentration of imports in these seven countries provides a strong lever for change. A rapid shift towards sustainable timber could have wide-ranging consequences for the world’s tropical forests.

Collating data on volume of certified wood products has been an on-going challenge for some time. Neither FSC nor PEFC currently collect these data at source and trade federations and importers are often reluctant to share their own data when it is not in their interest to do so.

Probos has performed an analyses of the consumption of tropical primary timber product and the imports of wood pulp, paper and secondary paper products from tropical countries (incl. China) by EU member states. With the aim to identify those countries that have the highest share within the consumption and import. It also focused on identifying the most relevant actors in those countries. 

The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) has signed a contract with the European Commission to implement the project "Independent timber market monitoring: analysis of the reception of FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) licensed timber on the EU market as framed by VPAs (Voluntary Partnership Agreements)". This is done in the context of recent activities of the ITTO-program “Promoting the expansion of international trade in tropical timber and wood products from sustainably managed and legally harvested forests.”.

At the request of Forest Europe, Probos is carrying out a review of chapter 6 of the report: State of Europe’s Forest 2015. Chapter 6 covers the social economic functions and conditions that are determining factors for sustainable forest management, like ownership structure, the contribution of the forest and timber sector to the BNP and for example the opening up of the forest for recreation, and cultural historical values.

Improving the reporting of social economic indicators in the Forest Europe questionnaire.

Commissioned by the Canadian embassy, every three months an overview is provided of the developments in the Netherlands and Europe that are relevant for the market of Canadian wood products.

IDH (the Sustainable Trade Initiative) has asked CBI (Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries) to develop a tailored market intelligence product in the field of tropical timber. The IDH Tropical Timber program focuses on sustainable forest management.

CBI (Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries) provides up-to-date EU market insights. It is a valuable source of intelligence for exporters to prepare and maintain their export marketing activities. CBI has asked Probos to provide a scenario planning regarding the European Timber Regulation.

Probos coordinated the Dutch part of the European project Future Forest Monitoring (FutMon www.futmon.org). FutMon is the sequel to the Forest Focus Measurements in which the Netherlands took part from the beginning and that is being financed by the LIFE+ program.

It is a question whether or not the forests and other woody plantings in the EU can provide sufficiently in the demand from the traditional wood sector and energy sector.

The goal is to get into focus the biomass potential of European forests in relation to the expected demand for sustainable energy (electricity and warmth) and to assess the possibilities to promote the harvesting of biomass, from unused forest wood as well as from newly planted forests and energy production in short rotation forests. In addition, the potential contribution of forest wood in Europe will be translated in terms of avoided greenhouse gas emissions as a contribution to the Kyoto protocol.