Land Use Sustainability Monitoring: “Trees Outside Forests” in Temperate FAO-Ecozones (Oceanic, Continental, and Mediterranean) in Europe (2000–2015)

Luis G. García-Montero, Cristina Pascual, Alfonso Sanchez-Paus Díaz, Susana Martín-Fernández, Pablo Martín-Ortega, Fernando García-Robredo, Carlos Calderón-Guerrero, Chiara Patriarca and Danilo Mollicone
Additional contact information
Luis G. García-Montero: Department of Forest and Environmental Engineering and Management, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Cristina Pascual: Department of Forest and Environmental Engineering and Management, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Alfonso Sanchez-Paus Díaz: Climate Change and Biodiversity Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 00153 Rome, Italy
Susana Martín-Fernández: Department of Forest and Environmental Engineering and Management, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Pablo Martín-Ortega: Department of Forest and Environmental Engineering and Management, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Fernando García-Robredo: Department of Forest and Environmental Engineering and Management, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Carlos Calderón-Guerrero: Department of Forest and Environmental Engineering and Management, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Chiara Patriarca: Forestry Policy and Resources Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 00153 Rome, Italy
Danilo Mollicone: Climate Change and Biodiversity Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 00153 Rome, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-16

Abstract: The global distribution of forest trees is essential for monitoring land-use sustainability. For this reason, FAO developed the Global Forest Survey (GFS), a systematic regional level survey with a homogeneous sampling design. Preliminary results revealed an interest in analyzing “Trees Outside Forests” (TOFs). We analyzed more than 11,150 sample GFS plots in temperate FAO-ecozones in Europe through a photo-interpretation approach using FAO’s Collect Earth platform. Our results showed that forest land was the most predominant use of land (41%) in temperate FAO-ecozones in Europe in 2015. Forest IPCC land use followed a moderate upward trend from 2000 to 2015 (0.2%). Trees Outside Forests in temperate FAO-ecozones in Europe accounted for 22% of the inventoried area. Trees Outside Forests represent 30% and 48% of cropland and grassland IPCC land uses, respectively, as well as 75% in settlement uses. Comparing our results with previous studies on the Mediterranean, temperate FAO-ecozone TOFs showed a downward trend in Europe and an upward trend in the Mediterranean area, despite its smaller surface area. The greening of the Common Agricultural Policy may increase the extension of TOFs, although our results may indicate that this effect is not yet evident in the field.

Keywords: TOF; temperate FAO-ecozones; global forest survey; tree monitoring; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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