Metla Bulletin

Metla’s expertise in demand around the world

Collecting information on global forest resources, and giving it a uniform format, is challenging. Insufficient inventory data is available, especially in the tropics and developing countries. Metla’s national forest inventory expertise is therefore in international demand. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations commissioned Metla to prepare a tailored inventory plan for information on forest resources in Tanzania. Work is being carried out in accordance with instructions from Metla in Tanzania, a country three times the size of Finland. Measurement of 34,000 sample plots is well under way and will be completed in the first half of 2012.

FAO aims to harmonise forest resource information – forest resources in Tanzania assessed with expert assistance from Metla

The world’s forest resource information has been collected and published by the FAO since 1947. At the same time, the FAO and other organisations have made substantial efforts, for instance through various projects, to harmonise definitions and data.a. An example of such work is the EU project COST Action E43 (Harmonisation of National Forest Inventories in Europe: Techniques for Common Reporting, 2004–2008).

Photo: Providing expert assistance requires acquaintance with conditions in the target country. Mikko Leppänen of the FAO-FIN programme and Professor Erkki Tomppo (uppermost photo, first and second from the left) in consultation with Tanzanian partners (Mr. Edwin Haule, Dr. Eliakimu Zahabu, Mr. Jared Otieno, Mr. Nurudin Chamuya and Prof. Rogers Malimbwi) in 2009. Photo: Soren Dalsgaard. The Tanzanians (Prof. Rogers Malimbwi, Mr. Edwin Gerold Nssoko and Mr. Nurudin Chamuya) paid a return visit to Finland (below), practicing field measurement in Loppi, in November 2009, with Erkki Tomppo as the host (second on the left). Photo: Jared Otieno.

The FAO has had to focus its efforts on developing countries in particular. No inventory has yet been performed in most of these countries. Even where this has been done, forest resource information is lacking or has been collected in accordance with the countries’ own needs and definitions. For the last ten years, the FAO’s National Forest Monitoring and Assessment (NFMA) project has assisted developing countries in establishing inventories of their own. The inventory method used is based on the experiences of a single country, minus the research and development effort normally involved in such a task.

In 2008, the FAO wished to assess this method. For this, they employed the expertise of Professors Erkki Tomppo from Metla and Krister Anderson of the University of Colorado, United States. According to these experts, a more efficient survey design would cut costs to one quarter of the current level.

“The FAO trusted our assessment and decided to try out a new approach, tailoring the survey design on the basis of the country's needs. Tanzania was chosen as the pilot country,” says Tomppo. In 2009, FAO commissioned Metla to perform the inventory planning work. Tanzania’s ministry responsible for forests, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Forest and Beekeeping division and the FAO, also participated in planning.

Awaiting the results of the inventory in Tanzania

The sample survey was conducted in the autumn of 2009 and early 2010. Satellite pictures were used to construct a map-based prediction of growing stock volumes throughout Tanzania, for the purpose of creating the survey design. In addition, use was made of all existing numerical geographic information, such as a digital elevation model and land-use maps.

With this information, sampling errors related to various survey designs were simulated and measurement costs calculated. Measurement costs for the sample plots were evaluated with the help of geographical information applications. The sample that gave the smallest sampling error and met the cost limits was chosen.

A total of 34,000 sample plots were established in the whole of Tanzania. The method used is two-phased stratified sampling. Areas with high variation in land use and forests had the highest concentration of sample plots. Field measurements were begun in May 2010 and measurement of the entire network of sample plots will be completed in early 2012.

Around 34,000 sample plots were established in Tanzania, a country three times the size of Finland.

The method used in Tanzania drew extensive international attention and became the “state-of-the-art” design for FAO's NFMA countries. Several training sessions were held in Tanzania for inventory experts from Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Metla’s know-how exported to distant countries

At the moment, dozens of countries are included in the FAO’s programme for developing countries, which lacks the expert resources required to cover current inventory needs. Metla is therefore an important expertise provider to the FAO. “In addition to Tanzania, experts from Metla’s national forest inventory project have provided assistance for inventories carried out in Vietnam, Nepal, Zambia, Brazil and Costa Rica. They have also provided expert assistance and consultation to several other countries, either in the form of work commissioned from Metla, through research cooperation, or by working within the FAO on leave of absence from Metla,” states Erkki Tomppo.

Projects at the FAO, in which the national forest inventory research project has already participated and for which more help is expected, include the fifth national forest inventory in Vietnam and a second inventory in Zambia. Since 1990, four inventories have been carried out in Vietnam.

New information needs, for instance the REDD+ MRV requirements related to greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sinks, as well as more efficient utilisation of remote sensing, along with limited resources, necessitate the development of inventory systems and survey designs. In 2005–2008, an inventory was carried out under the FAO in Zambia, in accordance with the old design. Both Zambia and the FAO believe that the method requires reform.

There is a great need for expertise in developing countries’ inventories. The Department for Development Policy of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland significantly increased its available resources in the 2000s. At the FAO, use of resources is coordinated by the FAO-FIN project. It cooperates with the other units of the FAO’s forestry department and the FAO's UN-REDD programme.

Further information

• Professor Erkki Tomppo , ph. +029 532217, erkki.tomppo(a)metla.fi
• National Forest Inventory (NFI)

Publications

• Tomppo, E. & Andersson, K. (eds.) 2008. Technical review of FAO's approach and methods for National Forest Monitoring and Assessment (NFMA). FAO, NFMA Working Paper 38. 86 p.
• Tomppo, E. & Katila, M. 2008. Comparing alternative sampling designs for national and regional forest monitoring. In: Tomppo, E. & Andersson, K. (eds.). Technical review of FAO's approach and methods for National Forest Monitoring and Assessment (NFMA). FAO, NFMA Working Paper 38: 55-86.
• Tomppo, E. Katila ,M., Mäkisara, K., Peräsaari, J., Malimbwi, R., Chamuya, N., Otieno, J. Dalsgaard, S., & Leppänen,. M. 2010. A Report to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in support of Sampling Study for National Forestry Resources Monitoring and Assessment (NAFORMA) in Tanzania.
• Tomppo, E., Gschwantner, Th., Lawrence, M. & McRoberts, R.E. (eds.) 2010. National Forest Inventories - Pathways for common reporting. Springer, 612 p. ISBN 978-90-481-3232-4