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 E43 Objectives 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. 3 WGs of COST E43 1.Harmonised definitions and measuring practices of NFIs 2.Harmonized estimation procedures for carbon pools and carbon pool changes 3.Harmonized indicators and estimation procedures for assessing components of biodiversity with NFI data WG 1 WG 2WG 3

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

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 definition Coverage classes used

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

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

10. The key issues of WG2 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

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

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

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

17. Questionnaire’s result of WG3

18. WG3: Attributes ranked by the number of NFIs assessing them

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

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 E43 Office 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 !