Chapter 2 is essentially evidence driven and descriptive. Chapter 3 will attempt to identify the major challenges facing the forests and the forest sector in the ECE Region, on the basis of the facts and trends reported in chapter 2, as a contribution to discussion on directions and priorities, at the local, national and international levels. It is therefore useful to prepare outlook studies which project into the future the observed trends and their possible interactions, also with developments for other sectors, and to use these studies as a basis for identifying challenges.