Forest degradation | EUDR glossary

The EUDR definition of forest degradation, which applies to wood: converting primary or naturally regenerating forest into plantation or planted forest.

‘forest degradation’ means structural changes to forest cover, taking the form of the conversion of: (a) primary forests or naturally regenerating forests into plantation forests or into other wooded land; or (b) primary forests into planted forests

Forest degradation matters for wood: the deforestation-free test for wood products includes harvesting "without inducing forest degradation after 31 December, 2020" (Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, Art. 2(13)). The land can remain forest and still fail the test, if a primary forest has become a plantation.

For geolocation, this makes the exact boundary of a forestry plot more than a formality: different parts of a concession can have very different histories.

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