The French National Forest Inventory for a permanent, multi-scale and multi-thematic monitoring of French forests and mobilizable wood resources

Abstract

Since 1908, the French forest area has increased by 5.1 million hectares, from 10.3 to 15.4 million hectares. The stock of standing timber has increased by 950 million cubic metres over the last thirty-five years. At the same time, the expectations of economic players and society have evolved to meet new challenges: mitigation of the greenhouse effect in the context of climate change, emergence of the bio-economy, biodiversity, etc. To accompany these societal evolutions, the national forest inventory is continuously adapting by relying more and more on the expertise of partners in the sector.