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

Experimental mapping of forests available for wood supply at the national level in Italy

Gherardo Chirici
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie per l’Ambiente e il Territorio, Contrada Fonte Lappone – 86090 Pesche, Isernia (Italy),
Piermaria Corona
Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Ambiente Forestale e delle sue Risorse, Via San Camillo de’ Lellis, snc – 01100 Viterbo (Italy),
Susanna Nocentini
Dipartimento di Scienze e tecnologie Ambientali Forestali, Università di Firenze, Via San Bonaventura, 13 – 50145 Firenze (Italy),

Published 2013-04-09

Keywords

  • forests available for wood supply,
  • mapping,
  • land suitability,
  • GIS

Abstract

For the operational implementation of strategic initiatives within the forest sector there is an increasing need of procedures for the identification of areas available for wood supply. This paper presents the experimental application of a GIS based methodology for classifying and mapping forest areas potentially suitable for wood supply on the basis of a georeferenced dataset available at the national level in Italy. The model here implemented is proposed as a supporting tool for decision makers in forest planning and land management. Results show that forest areas potentially available for wood supply are 40% of total national forest area.