Europe is home to 25% of the world's forests, which absorb about 10% of the EU's annual emissions, it added.
The study said that improved policies had increased tree cover but that the risks of fire and disease were growing.
The report was published at a summit where ministers considered developing a legally binding deal on forest policy.
"We are benefiting now from the wise and brave decisions made in past," said Kit Prins, former UN timber chief, as he presented the findings to delegates at the Forest Europe conference in Oslo.
"The State of Europe's Forests 2011 report looks at the decisions being taken now, and we hope that people in the future will look back on these decisions positively," he observed.
Mr Prins added: "We believe that the study supplies the best information ever on Europe's forests." Read the full report here.
Source: by Mark Kinver, Environment reporter, BBC News, Oslo.
