Actual European forest management by region, tree species and owner based on 714,000 re-measured trees in national forest inventories

National Forest Inventories (NFIs) collect and provide a large amount of information regarding the forest volume, carbon stocks, vitality, biodiversity, non-wood forest products and their changes. Forest stands variables data are paramount to understanding their composition, especially on those related with understory characteristics and the coverage of species according to canopy layers; they are essential to assess biodiversity and to support forest management. At the same time, these inventories allow the development of harmonized forest descriptions beyond the national scale. This study aims to develop a homogeneous characterization of the Iberian Peninsula’s forests, in order to classify and identify the forest types. For this purpose, harmonized data from NFIs of Portugal and Spain were used to assess the composition of species, dominance and the percentage of cover for each species in a vertical space defined by seven canopy layers. Using the “K-means” clustering algorithm, a set of clusters was identified and georeferenced using forest polygons from land use and cover maps of both countries. The interpretation and description of the clusters lead to the establishment of 28 forest types that characterize all of the Iberian Peninsula forests. Each forest area has been described through one of the forest types and their relation with other ecological characteristics of the stands was analyzed. Shrubs formations are generally widely distributed in the forest area of the Iberian Peninsula, however their abundance in terms of cover is lower in comparison with tree species. Around 71% of the forest types are dominated by trees, mainly species from the genera Pinus and Quercus, and 21% are dominated by shrub formations with species of Ulex spp., Cytisus spp., and Cistus spp. The Quercus ilex s.l. L. and Pinus pinaster Aiton are the common species of importance for both NFIs. The results represent a powerful and homogenous multi-use tool describing the Iberian Peninsula’s forestlands with applications on landscape analysis, forest management and conservation. This information can be used for comparisons at larger scales, allowing cross-border analysis in relation to various aspects, such as hazards and wildfires, as well as management and conservation of forest biodiversity. The developed method is adaptable to an updated dataset from more recent NFIs and to other study areas.

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Harmonising, improving and using social and recreational data in National Forest Inventories across Europe

Annals of Forest Science ◽

10.1007/s13595-020-00952-2 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 77 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Mark A. Atkinson ◽

David M. Edwards ◽

Frank Søndergaard Jensen ◽

Alexander P. N. van der Jagt ◽

Ben R. Ditchburn ◽

...

Keyword(s):

National Level ◽

European Countries ◽

Transport Infrastructure ◽

National Forest ◽

Qualitative Response ◽

Forest Inventories ◽

Recreational Services ◽

National Forest Inventories ◽

Funded Project ◽

General Transport

Abstract Key message National Forest Inventories (NFIs) hold promise for monitoring and valuing of non-productive forest functions, including social and recreational services. European countries use a range of methods to collect social and recreational information within their NFI methodologies. Data collected frequently included general and recreation-specific infrastructure, but innovative approaches are also used to monitor recreational use and social abuse. Context Social and recreational indicators are increasingly valued in efforts to measure the non-productive value of forests in Europe. National Forest Inventories (NFIs) can be used to estimate recreational and social usage of forest land at a national level and relate this use to other biophysical, spatial and topographical features. Nonetheless, there is little information concerning the extent. Aims The study aims to identify the coverage of social and recreational data present in European NFIs including the types of data recorded as part of the NFI methodologies across European countries. It also aims to examine contrasting methods used to record social and recreational data and present recommendations for ways forward for countries to integrate these into NFI practice. Methods A pan-European questionnaire was designed and distributed to 35 counties as part of the EU-funded project Distributed, Integrated and Harmonised Forest Information for Bioeconomy Outlooks (DIABOLO). The questionnaire probed countries on all social and recreational data that was included within NFIs. Qualitative response data was analysed and recoded to measure the extent of social and recreational data recoded in European NFIs both as a function of the number of variable categories per country and the number of countries recording particular variables. Results Thirty-one countries reported at least one social or recreational variable over 12 categories of data. The most frequently recorded variables included ownership, general transport infrastructure and recreation-specific infrastructure. Countries collecting data over many different categories included Switzerland, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Luxemburg and Denmark. Conclusion The study proposes a specific set of indicators, based upon countries with well-developed social and recreational data in their NFIs, which could be used by other countries, and report on the extent to which these are currently collected across Europe. It discusses results and makes a series of recommendations concerning priorities for the inclusion of social and recreational data in European NFIs.

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Integrating data from National Forest Inventories into socio-cultural forest monitoring – a new approach

Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1080/02827581.2020.1799066 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 35 (5-6) ◽

pp. 274-285

Author(s):

K. Tessa Hegetschweiler ◽

Christoph Fischer ◽

Marco Moretti ◽

Marcel Hunziker

Keyword(s):

Forest Monitoring ◽

National Forest ◽

New Approach ◽

Forest Inventories ◽

National Forest Inventories

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100 years of national forest inventories

Silva Fennica ◽

10.14214/sf.10643 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 55 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Matti Maltamo

Keyword(s):

National Forest ◽

Forest Inventories ◽

National Forest Inventories

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Catering Information Needs from Global to Local Scales—Potential and Challenges with National Forest Inventories

Forests ◽

10.3390/f10090800 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 800 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kangas ◽

Räty ◽

Korhonen ◽

Vauhkonen ◽

Packalen

Keyword(s):

Information Needs ◽

National Forest ◽

Model Errors ◽

Sampling Errors ◽

Small Areas ◽

Model Based ◽

Forest Inventories ◽

National Forest Inventories ◽

Biased Estimators ◽

National Information

Forest information is needed at global, national and local scales. This review aimed at providing insights of potential of national forest inventories (NFIs) as well as challenges they have to cater to those needs. Within NFIs, the authors address the methodological challenges introduced by the multitude of scales the forest data are needed, and the challenges in acknowledging the errors due to the measurements and models in addition to sampling errors. Between NFIs, the challenges related to the different harmonization tasks were reviewed. While a design-based approach is often considered more attractive than a model-based approach as it is guaranteed to provide unbiased results, the model-based approach is needed for downscaling the information to smaller scales and acknowledging the measurement and model errors. However, while a model-based inference is possible in small areas, the unknown random effects introduce biased estimators. The NFIs need to cater for the national information requirements and maintain the existing time series, while at the same time providing comparable information across the countries. In upscaling the NFI information to continental and global information needs, representative samples across the area are of utmost importance. Without representative data, the model-based approaches enable provision of forest information with unknown and indeterminable biases. Both design-based and model-based approaches need to be applied to cater to all information needs. This must be accomplished in a comprehensive way In particular, a need to have standardized quality requirements has been identified, acknowledging the possibility for bias and its implications, for all data used in policy making.

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