Geo-referenced Forest Information for Belgium

In Belgium, forests cover about 670.000 hectares. The corresponding data are issued from various sources : non-forest thematic maps, total tallies, sample surveys and remote sensing. At the national level the official information is given by decennial national forest statistics but because of its lack of uniformity and quality other approaches are necessary. The Flemish region (nothern part of Belgium with 20 % of the forest) is using remote sensing to assess the global forest situation while the Walloon region (southern part of Belgium with 80 % of the forest) is using a permanent field forest inventory based on a sampling frame (1 plot for every 50 hectares located in forest conditions). GIS are on the way to bringing together pertinent geo-referenced data on vegetation, soil, growing stock and environmental conditions. This report outlines the procedures used to obtain basic information on the location and extend of the forest resource.