journalArticle Pötzelsberger Elisabeth Lapin Katharina Brundu Giuseppe Adriaens Tim Andonovski Vlatko Andrašev Siniša Bastien Jean-Charles Brus Robert Čurović Milić Čurović Željka Cvjetković Branislav Đodan Martina Domingo-Santos Juan M Gazda Anna Henin Jean-Marc Hernea Cornelia Karlsson Bo Keča Ljiljana Keren Srđan Keserű Zsolt Konstantara Thomai Kroon Johan La Porta Nicola Lavnyy Vasyl Lazdina Dagnija Lukjanova Aljona Maaten Tiit Madsen Palle Mandjukovski Dejan Marín Pageo Francisco J Marozas Vitas Martinik Antonin Mason William L Mohren Frits Monteverdi Maria Cristina Neophytou Charalambos Neville Pat Nicolescu Valeriu-Norocel Nygaard Per Holm Orazio Christophe Parpan Taras Perić Sanja Petkova Krasimira Popov Emil Borissov Power Mick Rédei Károly Rousi Matti Silva Joaquim S Sivacioğlu Ahmet Socratous Michalis Straigytė Lina Urban Josef Vandekerkhove Kris Wąsik Radosław Westergren Marjana Wohlgemuth Thomas Ylioja Tiina Hasenauer Hubert Mapping the patchy legislative landscape of non-native tree species in Europe Abstract Europe has a history rich in examples of successful and problematic introductions of trees with a native origin outside of Europe (non-native trees, NNT). Many international legal frameworks such as treaties and conventions and also the European Union have responded to the global concern about potential negative impacts of NNT that may become invasive in natural ecosystems. It is, however, national and regional legislation in particular that affects current and future management decisions in the forest sector and shapes the landscapes of Europe. We identified all relevant legal instruments regulating NNT, the different legal approaches and the regulatory intensity in 40 European countries (no microstates). Information on hard and effective soft law instruments were collected by means of a targeted questionnaire and consultation of international and national legislation information systems and databases. In total, 335 relevant legal instruments were in place in June/July 2019 to regulate the use of NNT in the investigated 116 geopolitical legal units (countries as well as sub-national regions with their own legislation). Countries and regions were empirically categorized according to ad hoc-defined legislation indicators. These indicators pay respect to the general bans on the introduction of non-native species, the generally allowed and prohibited NNT, approval mechanisms and specific areas or cases where NNT are restricted or prohibited. Our study revealed a very diverse landscape of legal frameworks across Europe, with a large variety of approaches to regulating NNT being pursued and the intensity of restriction ranging from very few restrictions on species choice and plantation surface area to the complete banning of NNT from forests. The main conclusion is that there is a clear need for more co-ordinated, science-based policies both at the local and international levels to enhance the advantages of NNT and mitigate potential negative effects. cpaa009 2020-06-03 en https://academic.oup.com/forestry/advance-article/doi/10.1093/forestry/cpaa009/5850529 2020-06-04 07:39:16 DOI.org (Crossref) Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research DOI 10.1093/forestry/cpaa009 ISSN 0015-752X, 1464-3626