Vol. 61 No. 5 (2006):
Special section

Multi-criteria evalutation for forest land use suitability: the case of Tuscany

Davide Melini
geoLAB – Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Ambientali Forestali, Università degli Studi di Firenze. Via S. Bonaventura, 13 - 50145 Firenze
Davide Travaglini
geoLAB – Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Ambientali Forestali, Università degli Studi di Firenze. Via S. Bonaventura, 13 - 50145 Firenze

Published 2006-10-09

Keywords

  • multi-criteria evaluation,
  • fuzzy sets,
  • land suitability,
  • forest planning

Abstract

The contribution describes the application of a GIS-based fuzzy multi-criteria evaluation approach. The target is indentifying the suitability for different uses of forest areas: timber production, soil protection, nature conservation. The analysis has been applied on the Tuscany Region territory. Forest land suitability for different uses has been evaluated by means of six factors: (i) volume, (ii) slope, (iii) mean diameter, (iv) landscape patch cohesion, (v) patch types diversity, (vi) patch rarity. The multi-criteria evaluation is based on a linear combination method. The analysis has identified areas suitable for wood production and areas which are primarily dedicated to nature conservation and soil protection and where there is a potential risk of conflict with the productive function