Wall-to-Wall Mapping of Forest Biomass and Wood Volume Increment in Italy

Francesca Giannetti; Gherardo Chirici; Elia Vangi; Piermaria Corona; Fabio Maselli; Marta Chiesi; Giovanni D’Amico; Nicola Puletti

doi:10.3390/f13121989

Forests (Nov 2022)

Wall-to-Wall Mapping of Forest Biomass and Wood Volume Increment in Italy

Francesca Giannetti,
Gherardo Chirici,
Elia Vangi,
Piermaria Corona,
Fabio Maselli,
Marta Chiesi,
Giovanni D’Amico,
Nicola Puletti

Affiliations

Francesca Giannetti: geoLAB—Laboratory of Forest Geomatics, Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Sciences and Technologies, University of Florence, 50145 Firenze, Italy
Gherardo Chirici: geoLAB—Laboratory of Forest Geomatics, Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Sciences and Technologies, University of Florence, 50145 Firenze, Italy
Elia Vangi: geoLAB—Laboratory of Forest Geomatics, Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Sciences and Technologies, University of Florence, 50145 Firenze, Italy
Piermaria Corona: Department for Innovation in Biological, Agri-Food and Forestry Systems, University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Fabio Maselli: Italian National Research Council—Institute of BioEconomy (CNR-IBE), Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
Marta Chiesi: Italian National Research Council—Institute of BioEconomy (CNR-IBE), Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
Giovanni D’Amico: geoLAB—Laboratory of Forest Geomatics, Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Sciences and Technologies, University of Florence, 50145 Firenze, Italy
Nicola Puletti: Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Forestry and Wood (CREA), 52100 Arezzo, Italy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/f13121989
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 13, no. 12
p. 1989

Abstract

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Several political initiatives aim to achieve net-zero emissions by the middle of the twenty-first century. In this context, forests are crucial as a carbon sink to store unavoidable emissions. Assessing the carbon sequestration potential of forest ecosystems is pivotal to the availability of accurate forest variable estimates for supporting international reporting and appropriate forest management strategies. Spatially explicit estimates are even more important for Mediterranean countries such as Italy, where the capacity of forests to act as sinks is decreasing due to climate change. This study aimed to develop a spatial approach to obtain high-resolution maps of Italian forest above-ground biomass (ITA-BIO) and current annual volume increment (ITA-CAI), based on remotely sensed and meteorological data. The ITA-BIO estimates were compared with those obtained with two available biomass maps developed in the framework of two international projects (i.e., the Joint Research Center and the European Space Agency biomass maps, namely, JRC-BIO and ESA-BIO). The estimates from ITA-BIO, JRC-BIO, ESA-BIO, and ITA-CAI were compared with the 2nd Italian NFI (INFC) official estimates at regional level (NUT2). The estimates from ITA-BIO are in good agreement with the INFC estimates (R2 = 0.95, mean difference = 3.8 t ha−1), while for JRC-BIO and ESA-BIO, the estimates show R2 of 0.90 and 0.70, respectively, and mean differences of 13.5 and of 21.8 t ha−1 with respect to the INFC estimates. ITA-CAI estimates are also in good agreement with the INFC estimates (R2 = 0.93), even if they tend to be slightly biased. The produced maps are hosted on a web-based forest resources management Decision Support System developed under the project AGRIDIGIT (ForestView) and represent a key element in supporting the new Green Deal in Italy, the European Forest Strategy 2030 and the Italian Forest Strategy.

Published in Forests

ISSN: 1999-4907 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Science: Botany: Plant ecology
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests/

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