Outlining multi-purpose forest inventories to assess the ecosystem approach in forestry

Abstract

A summary and discussion of selected published results on the current and potential role of forest inventories (with particular reference to the national ones) are presented in the light of the challenges posed by society and policy decisions in the environmental sector. The analysis concentrates mainly on the ecological and socio-economic aspects of the question and on forest inventories' potential contribution to achieving sustainable forest management.

Key words:

• National forest inventories
• biodiversity monitoring
• systemic silviculture
• forest geomatics

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Gherardo Chirici for providing the data in Table III and to Roberto Scotti for helpful comments on an earlier draft.