Resource assessments and forest inventories
Forest resource assessment is an essential element for obtaining credible estimates of forest resources. Monitoring of the development of forest resources is crucial on deciding between the multiple possibilities that forests bear, including sustainable utilisation and biodiversity conservation. Resource assessment can be extended from traditional forest inventories to cover for instance carbon stocks, land cover changes and non-timber forest products.
It is important for inventories to be well-designed and accurately implemented, because the results are used over a period of several years and erroneous information can cause significant financial or ecological losses.
The coverage of a forest resource assessment may range from small forest compartment up to national, even global assessments and therefore the methodologies, data needs and their application are heterogeneous. Furthermore, functional information systems enable the optimal use of forest resource assessment results.
Often forest resource assessments require the consideration of current infrastructure and possible development needs for timber harvest and other purposes. An efficient way of completing an infrastructure assessment is by combining it with the forest inventory. The forest and infrastructure assessments are a common prerequisite for harvesting and logistics planning.
Indufor has worked at all different levels of forest resource assessments and has strong in-house experience and understanding of the information needs at every level of decision making concerning forests. Methodologies used by Indufor range from conducting traditional field inventories to the application of highly sophisticated modern remote sensing systems to cover large areas with low cost.
Global experience on forest resource assessments has brought Indufor deep understanding of the problems and their solutions in different types of forests, from boreal zone to tropical regions. It has a strong and close network in information and space technology, including several world leading experts and companies in building remote sensing, GIS, and information systems for forestry.
| Contacts: | Ilkka Norjamäki Olli Leino |
Our services:
- Forest resource assessment design and implementation
- Harvest projection for planning and valuation purposes
- Forest resource mapping
- Forest infrastructure assessment
- Accessibility analyses and assessment of infrastructure development needs
- Forest, land cover change, carbon stock and fire monitoring system design and implementation
- Forest information system design
