Comparisons of national forest inventories

Abstract

The evolution of national forest inventories (NFIs) has varied enormously between countries, and the process still continues. This evolution is documented in the histories of European NFIs, as well as others in North and South America, Asia, and New Zealand that are included in the NFI Reports section of this book. COST Action E43 has been a catalyst for harmonising European definitions that have resulted from these varied evolutions and has produced a template that can be used for harmonisation in other regions. The purpose of this chapter is to summarize the NFI reports, albeit by illustrating the diversity in NFI features as partial motivation for Chapter 3 which describes harmonisation procedures and touts the successes of the Action. Much of the information in this chapter is presented in the form of tables that report details of NFIs for individual countries. However, because the purpose of the tables and the entire chapter is primarily to illustrate the diversity of NFI features, only selected details for selected countries are reported. The complete details for all countries submitting NFI reports may be found in the NFI Reports section of this book. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.