CEPI will publish the guidance at the end of this year to try to improve forest care across Europe.

"The definitive guide to best practice for biodiversity guidelines will help us work together in a common way," public affairs director Martyn Griffiths said.

Hans Verkerk, researcher for the European Forest Institute, said balancing biodiversity with the "numerous functions" of the forest was "critical".

"It will give us the first input to the debate by showing what volumes are concerned," he told attendees at a conference on biological diversity in Bonn, Germany.

Päivi Salpakivi-Salomaa, chair of CEPI's biodiversity issue group, said: "Biodiversity protection is integral to sustainable forest management for European pulp and paper."

Best-practice initiatives include guidance for biomass and mountain forests in Austria and a green-forest management plan by Södra.