On the extension of large-scale forest inventories to non-forest areas
Author(s)
Chiriacò, Maria Vincenza
Date Issued
July 1, 2011
Type
Doctoral Thesis
Abstract
Trees outside Forests (TOF) refer to those trees found on lands not defined as “Forest” and “Other Wooded Land” as per FAO definitions and include all those trees grouped in small woodlots and tree rows, or those scattered trees, occurring outside that areas conventionally indicated as forests whether in urban, rural or agroforestry systems.
The importance of tree outside forests and the need for complete and detailed information about these stands were formally underlined for the first time during the FAO Expert Consultation on Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000 (Kotka V, June 1996). Afterwards, countries mandated FAO for preparing a Thematic Report on TOF as part of FRA 2010, including the formulation of technical guidelines for integrating TOF in the next FRA 2015 reporting process. Although the importance of TOF is widely recognized, what is known until now about these forest formations is still limited, especially on large areas (Kleinn et al., 2001).
The aim of this PhD thesis was to investigate TOF formations through the development of a methodology of inventory exploiting the already existing network of conventional large-scale forest inventories. Further aim of this thesis was to develop a sector sampling methodology to survey small woodlots in a more expeditious way.
This thesis provides a solution to the widespread and increasing need for more detailed information on the quantitative and qualitative assessment of TOF resources and on their distribution. The application of the proposed methodologies allows the assessment of the quantitative and qualitative attributes of TOF through an ad hoc methodology for TOF inventory which proved to be easily applicable. The statistical estimators proposed in the developed methodology prove to be robust and of useful application. The developed protocols thanks to their potentiality to be implemented in the first-phase of the conventional large-scale forest inventories allow a collection of information on TOF at lower cost of implementation. Also the sector sampling methodology proves to provide a valid solution for sampling small surfaces as woodlots, solving the practical problem related to the edge effect, while reducing time and effort of the survey and maintaining a good accuracy of the estimate.
The implementation of the proposed methodologies at national levels could be a concrete perspective also considering that TOF formations are intended to increase in coming years, mainly in relation to their further territorial expansion resulting from the recent Common Agricultural Policy orientations. This consideration is of relevant importance especially in the perspective of eligibility of the agro-forestry sector to contribute to the national count of greenhouse gas emissions in the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.
Additional information
Dottorato di ricerca in Scienze e tecnologie per la gestione forestale e ambientale
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