The book presents the current state and good practices of national forest inventories in monitoring wood resources and demonstrates pathways for harmonisation and improved common reporting. Beyond a general overview over availability and use of wood resources in different countries, it provides a unique collection of original contributions from national forest inventory experts with in-depth descriptions of current NFI methods in assessing wood availability and wood use in European countries, and selected countries from America and Asia.

Includes in-depth descriptions of current National Forest Inventory (NFI) methods for monitoring the availability and use of wood resources from virtually all European countries, as well as selected countries in America and Asia

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