National Forest Inventories (eBook)

Claude VidalClaude VIDAL was Director of the French National Forest Inventory (NFI) from 2002 to 2014. As a founding member of the European National Forest Inventory Network (ENFIN) from its creation in 2003 onwards, he has worked from the beginning to enhance comparability of NFI data and to help countries to improve or establish up to date NFI methodologies. In COST Action E43: “Harmonisation of National Forest Inventories in Europe: Techniques for Common Reporting”, from 2004 to 2008, he chaired one working group dealing with the harmonisation of definitions and from 2010 to 2014 also chaired another working group on the same subject within the COST Action “Usewood” focusing on the question of comparable data in terms of availability of wood in Europe on a sustainable basis. He was also the focal point of two Framework Contracts between ENFIN and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission helping the Commission to build a forest European database with comparable NFI data. From 2014 to 2016 he worked at the JRC to make proposals on the building of a European Forestry Bureau as foreseen in the European Forest Strategy document from 2013.Iciar AlberdIciar Alberdi is researcher in forest monitoring in the Silviculture and Forest Management Department of the INIA-CIFOR in Madrid. She is a Forestry Engineer with a PhD from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM). She has twelve years of experience coordinating the biodiversity survey of the Spanish National Forest Inventory and developing the methodology. Member of the ENFIN group (European National Forest Inventories Network) and national contact point of the Spanish National Forest Inventory, she is involved in several projects on the harmonization of national forest inventories.Laura HernándezLaura Hernández has a postdoc position in the Silviculture and Forest Management Department of the INIA-CIFOR in Madrid. She is a Forestry Engineer with a PhD in Forest ecology from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM). She began her research career in the field of geobotany, conservation biology and paleoecology in the UPM. Since 2009 she works at INIA for the Spanish National Forest Inventory (NFI). Her research work is aimed at tracking evidence of the impact of global change on forest ecosystems at different spatial and temporal scales through the analysis of the information derived from NFIs. She also participates in projects for the harmonisation of wood resource assessments from NFI information in an international framework. She is author and coauthor of several scientific articles, as well as books and book chapters, related to her research fields.John Redmond John Redmond is a Forestry Inspector working with Ireland’s national forest authority, the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine. Prior to joining the Department in 2006, he worked with the state forest company (Coillte Teoranta) on forest resource planning. In his current role he is responsible for Ireland’s National Forest Inventory, national statistics, regulation of felling and is also involved in forecasting private sector timber resource. Through his role as National Correspondent, he has worked on the international forest reporting processes of Forest Resource Assessment (FAO) and State of Europe’s Forests (FOREST EUROPE/UNECE/FAO). As a member of the ENFIN group (European National Forest Inventories Network) he has participated in several projects aimed at harmonising forest assessment processes used in national forest inventories.

Title: National Forest Inventories – Assessment of Wood Availability and Use (467 pages)Editors: Adrian Lanz, Iciar Alberdi Asensio, Laura Hernandez, John Redmond, Claude VidalPreliminariesPreface (2 pages)Acknowledgement (1 page)COST information (1 page)Table of Contents (4 pages)Abbreviations (2 pages)List of participants (10 pages)Chapter 1 Introduction (14 pages)1.1 Overview of wood resource assessment (3 pages) Development of international reporting from first FRA report to UNFCCC Current information needs on availability of wood resources, including round-wood and bioenergy. Monitoring sustainable forest management and climate change 1.2 Uses of NFI data to estimate potential wood supply (3 pages)1.2.1 National level National models using NFI data to predict the potential wood supply (scenario modelling) 1.2.2 International level Studies using existing forest resource information for modelling the potential wood supply (e.g. EFISCEN, EFDM and EFSOS) The input data used in these models 1.3 Harmonising wood resource information (2 pages) Reference to the FAO and the ENFIN harmonisation processes Standardisation vs. harmonisation Principles in establishing reference definitions and the process of bridge building 1.4 Objectives and overview of Cost Action FP1001 (3 pages) Reference to the memorandum of understanding The topics and structure of working group 1 (within FP001) Way of working within Working Group 1 (overview of existing references, information needs and current national methods; proposal of common reference definitions in small groups with validation in the large group of experts). 1.5 Structure of the book (1 page)1.6 References (2 pages)Chapter 2. Comparison of Wood Resource Assessment in National Forest Inventories (14 pages)2.1 Materials (4 pages) The mechanism used for collecting information on the current status of wood resource assessment in European NFIs: questionnaires and country reports Four separate online questionnaires covering the sub-task areas of the working group: forest available for wood supply, stem quality and assortments, change estimation, other wooded land and trees outside forest Structure and contents of country reports with detailed information on resource availability and NFI methods from countries 2.2 Diversity in national definitions and in the monitoring of wood resources (8 pages)· Analysis and discussion by sub-groups highlighting the diversity (in methods, and natural and economic conditions), but also the similarity and degree of harmonisation between NFI methods2.3 References (2 pages)Chapter 3. Harmonisation of information on the potential supply of wood resources (11 pages)3.1 Introduction (2 pages)· FP1001 as a continuation of the process initiated by ENFIN and national experts in Cost Action E43: extension to the monitoring of wood use3.2 Building reference definitions (2 pages)· Existing international definitions (FRA, European standards, Forest Europe, etc.)·Status of national definitions Principle in defining reference definition Proposal and validation by participants  3.3 Reference definitions (4 pages) Reference definitions by sub-group (topic) with explanations 3.4 Summary (1 page)3.5 References (2 pages)Chapter 4. Progresses in the harmonised assessment of availability and use of wood resources (14 pages)4.1 Introduction (1 page) Application and demonstration projects in building harmonised information for EU purposes (EINFIN's framework contract with the European Commission Joint Research Centre) 4.2 Use of the Cost Action reference definition (2 pages) Deviation of current reporting from proposed reference definitions 4.3 Bridges for converting estimates (4 pages) Case studies on the implementation of reference definitions and effects of varying thresholds, e.g. in the definition and classification of trees outside forest with the help of remote sensing data, of the forest land available for wood supply using GIS data, and a cross-country comparison of stem quality assessment systems 4.4 NFI and harmonisation of reporting (2 pages) Prospective in up-taking and implementing the harmonisation process into common international reporting 4.5 Knowledge sharing and future work (3 pages) Impact of ENFIN's harmonisation work on national forest inventories Capacity of countries to further adopt to agreed reference definitions Chapter 5 to approx. 30 Reports from countries (375 pages) The reports are original documents produced by national experts. The reports follow a common structure (see the enclosed template). On average, approx. 15 pages per report. Appendix (15 pages) List of reference definitions (15 pages) Index (4 pages