The EC JRC Pilot Study "Harmonising National Forest Inventories in Europe- will focus on an initial list of forestry variables that will be tested with 3 harmonisation approaches. After the preparation and provision of input data such as National forest inventory data, remote sensing data, the CORINE LandCover Classification (CLC 2000) and ICP Forests data, harmonised datasets and geo-referenced maps will be produced for the selected variables and test areas. A forest information database will be developed which includes both the original and the harmonised data and also other harmonised products such as forest cover and tree species maps. The applied harmonisation approaches and harmonised datasets will be evaluated and compared.
EFI will contribute as a project partner to the compilation of a core set of forest variables used in the project, the application of the harmonisation approach "sub-sampling of remote sensing data-, the development of the forest information database and to the evaluation of the results. The results of the harmonisation approaches will comprise:
- harmonised data set for selected variables;
- various forest maps as an additional result of the applied harmonisation approaches;
- comparison between NFI definitions and reference definitions showing differences between definitions but also between assessed figures;
- derivation of relation factors " conversion factors " largest common denominators for harmonised assessments " as a basis for building bridges between NFI methods and harmonisation approaches;
- application of remote sensing techniques to consider new technology developments within forest assessments but also to fulfil the requirement of generated spatial datasets;
- error budget and evaluation reflecting reliability and applicability of data but also of proposed approaches for different selected variables and test areas.