COST Action E43 Harmonisation of National Inventories in Europe: Techniques for Common Reporting

1. COST Action E43 Harmonisation of National Inventories in Europe: Techniques for Common Reporting Monitoring Forest Resources for Sustainable Management Meeting of the UNECE/FAO Team of Specialists Forestry Commission 231 Corstorphine Road, EH 12 7AT Edinburgh, Scotland 21-22 May, 2007 www.metla.fi/eu/cost/e43/

2. 27 European countries, USA and New Zealand June 2004 – June 2008

3. Cost Action E43Objectives • To harmonise the definitions and concepts to produce comparable information • To support countries, particularly with new inventories • To promote the use of scientifically sound and validated methods

4. Harmonised definitions and measuring practices of NFIs Harmonized estimation procedures for carbon pools and carbon pool changes Harmonized indicators and estimation procedures for assessing components of biodiversity with NFI data 3 WGs of COST E43

5. The way towards harmonization International definitions NFI descriptions+Questionnaires Comprehensive information on the current situation of NFIs References Definitions Analysis of harmonization options Building Bridges Results calculation Recommendations for harmonizing results at the European level Comparable estimates

6. Concepts and variables with reference definitions • WG1 • Forest land, Other Wooded land • Tree components, Volume of growing stock, Standing volume • WG2 • Forest (from WG1), Cropland, Grassland, Wetlands, Settlements, Other land • Five carbon pools (Above and Below ground biomass, Dead wood, Litter, Soil carbon) • Afforestation, Reforestation, Deforestation • Forest management • WG3 • Five core variables (Forest type, Deadwood, Ground vegetation, Naturalness, Stand structure)

7. Results of WG1, Forest definitionCoverage classes used

8. Results of WG1 % of forest area assessed 80% 3number of countries forest area 60% 40 % 20% 8 4 3 2 1 1 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% n/a coverage classes Forest definitionCrown Coverage Classes Used

9. WG1, Forest Area and Volume of Growing Stock versus DBH Threshold

10. UNFCCC reporting Kyoto reporting Definitions and decisions already by 2006 Annual figures to report Land-use change estimates State and change in 5 carbon pools Utilization of NFIs The key issues of WG2

11. WG2 results, Land use issues • Approaches to estimate land-use change

12. Data for the baseline year (mostly 1990) WG2 results, KP - baseline

13. WG2 results, KP – ARD activities • The basis for ARD estimation

14. Use of NFI data for 5 carbon pools (%)

15. Development steps of WG3 activities References for core variables ?

16. Result of WG3 Specific biodiversity data are collected on dead wood? 11 countries are currently assess deadwood in time series » harmonised report on deadwood (changes in time and in decay stages) will be possible

17. Questionnaire’s result of WG3

18. 100% 1 2 3 3 4 90% 5 6 80% 9 10 70% 14 60% 20 20 50% 19 18 17 17 16 40% 15 14 30% 11 10 20% 6 10% 0% DBH height gaps/ha social position tree coordinates number of layers edge effects / ha stage of development number of trees /dbh / dead trees (snags) / ha species abundance /layer hectare distance to nearest neighbour tree WG3: Attributes ranked by the number of NFIs assessing them

19. Result of WG3 15 European countries currently describe the vertical stand structure by assessing the number of layers. » data harmonisation is possible

20. Impact, science • Current status of NFIs, differences and similarities in concepts and definitions • Methods to analyse and create definitions quantitatively • The role of NFIs in UNFCCC LULUCF and Kyoto reporting • Quantifying biodiversity assessment and the possibilities of NFIs in biodiversity monitoring • Methods to convert NFI estimates from one definition to another (building bridges)

21. Impact, technology • European forest monitoring system • can be built on NFIs • full advantage of local knowledge • full advantage of a long time methodological work and time series • FAO, UNECE/FAO, MCPFE, JRC, EEA, DG ENV actively participating • Global impact, similar processes are being built elsewhere with the support of FAO, e.g., Asia process, Montreal process

22. Impact, technology, cont • Building up European forest information supply on the national inventories • maximized benefits from inventories 500 000 visited plots • maximized advantage of local knowledge and requirements together with international requirements

23. Cost Action E43Office holders • Prof. Erkki TOMPPO (Finland), the Chairman of the Action • Dr. Klemens SCHADAUER (Austria), Vice-Chairman Three Working Groups • Dr. Claude VIDAL (France), leader, WG1 • Dr. Adrian LANZ (Switzerland), deputy leader, WG1 • Prof. Göran Ståhl (Sweden), leader, WG2 • Dr. Emil CIENCIALA (Czech Republic), deputy leader, WG2 • Prof. Gherardo CHIRICI (Italy), leader, WG3 • Dr. Susanne WINTER (Germany), deputy leader, WG3

24. E43, coordination • Up to now • 7 Management committee meetings • 7 Joint working group meetings (8th in June in Helsinki) • 8 Steering committee meetings • 2nd Questionnaires, all WGs • 7 STSM and 10 Task Force meetings for analysing the questionnaires, defining references and building bridges

25. Future activities • 3 MC and JWG meetings • Several STSMs, TF meetings • Building bridges a challenge • field data with different definitions, work, => resources, some promising progress in 2007 • Publications • Country Report, status in each participating country • Scientific papers (so far 3 + 1 + 2) • Harmonised results

26. Future activities, cont • Inventory teams involved, high commitment of all, particularly core people and groups • Ambitious tasks with a lot of work • A new action to continue the work

27. Thank you !