Harmonised statistics and maps of forest biomass and increment in Europe.

Forest biomass is an essential resource in relation to the green transition and its assessment is key for the sustainable management of forest resources. Here, we present a forest biomass dataset for Europe based on the best available inventory and satellite data, with a higher level of harmonisation and spatial resolution than other existing data. This database provides statistics and maps of the forest area, biomass stock and their share available for wood supply in the year 2020, and statistics on gross and net volume increment in 2010-2020, for 38 European countries.

Towards the harmonization between National Forest Inventory and Forest Condition Monitoring. Consistency of plot allocation and effect of tree selection methods on sample statistics in Italy.

In the frame of a process aiming at harmonizing National Forest Inventory (NFI) and ICP Forests Level I Forest Condition Monitoring (FCM) in Italy, we investigated (a) the long-term consistency between FCM sample points (a subsample of the first NFI, 1985, NFI_1) and recent forest area estimates (after the second NFI, 2005, NFI_2) and (b) the effect of tree selection method (tree-based or plot-based) on sample composition and defoliation statistics. The two investigations were carried out on 261 and 252 FCM sites, respectively. Results show that some individual forest categories (larch and stone pine, Norway spruce, other coniferous, beech, temperate oaks and cork oak forests) are over-represented and others (hornbeam and hophornbeam, other deciduous broadleaved and holm oak forests) are under-represented in the FCM sample.

Quality control procedures in the Italian national forest inventory.

National forest inventories represent a fundamental source of data and knowledge for forestry and environmental policy and allow for the production of national and regional level statistics on forests. The value of these statistics confirms the need for a sampling design that adequately delivers representation by reducing sampling error, but also for a data quality process that limits the non-sampling errors. The article summarizes the quality control procedures of the three sampling phases adopted in the Italian national forest inventory, carried out between 2003 and 2006.