(15)Forests are under increasing pressure as a result of climate change, which aggravates other key drivers of pressures such as pests, diseases, extreme weather events and forest fires. Other pressures come from rural abandonment, lack of management and fragmentation due to land use changes, increasing management intensity due to rising demand for wood, forest products and energy, infrastructure development, urbanisation and land take. At the same time, forests play a crucial role for reaching the Union’s objectives of reversing biodiversity loss and enhancing ambition on climate change mitigation and adaptation, reducing and controlling disaster risk due in particular to floods, droughts or wildfires and promoting a circular bioeconomy. To reach climate neutrality and a healthy environment, it is necessary to improve both the quality and the quantity of forest areas that are the largest carbon sink in the land use, land use change and forestry (‘LULUCF’) sector. Forest-related activities can contribute to climate change mitigation by increasing net removals of carbon dioxide, by preserving carbon stocks, and by providing materials and renewable energy, generating co-benefits for climate change adaptation, biodiversity, circular economy, sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources, and pollution prevention and control. Technical screening criteria should therefore be laid down for afforestation, forest restoration, forest management and forest conservation activities. Those technical screening criteria should be fully in line with Union’s climate change adaptation, biodiversity and circular economy objectives.