Category |
Definition |
Forest |
Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use. |
Other wooded land |
Land not classified as “Forest”, spanning more than 0.5 hectares; with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of 5-10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ; or with a combined cover of shrubs, bushes and trees above 10 percent. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use. |
Other land |
All land that is not classified as “Forest” or “Other wooded land”. |
Other land with tree cover (Subordinated to “Other land”) |
Land classified as “Other land”, spanning more than 0.5 hectares with a canopy cover of more than 10 percent of trees able to reach a height of 5 meters at maturity. |
Inland water bodies |
Inland water bodies generally include major rivers, lakes and water reservoirs. |
References to sources of information |
Quality (H/M/L) |
Variable(s) |
Year(s) |
Additional comments |
Ministero dell’Agricoltura e delle Foreste-ISAFA. 1988. Inventario Forestale Nazionale. Sintesi metodologica e risultati. |
H |
Forests; Other wooded land; Other land |
1985 |
|
Ministero dell’Ambiente-Centro interregionale. 2000. Corine Land cover ordinated information on the European environment, Land Cover Map. Corine land cover update 2000. http://dataservice.eea.eu.int/dataservice/metadetails.asp?table=landcover&i=1 |
M |
Forests; Other wooded land |
2000 |
The CORINE land cover inventory is based on data from the 1970's and late 1980's/ early 1990's. The data inventory was updated in 2000/2001. |
National class |
National definition |
High forest |
Forest normally composed of trees of seedling origin. |
Coppice |
Forest originating mainly from sprouts or root suckers rather than seed. |
Productive forest formation |
- Forest formations for wood production: poplar plantations and others rapid-growth coniferous plantations - Forest formations for non-wood production: planted or natural forest formations for NWFP production (including chestnut and cork oak formations) |
Particular woody formation |
Natural wooded lands having a cover density of at least 20%, composed by trees and shrubs species, not managed for economic purposes. - Riparian formations: can be composed by trees species or shrubs species growing in particularly difficult areas. - Shrub formations: mainly composed by shrub species. |
Areas temporally without forest cover |
- Logged areas: areas where the absence of a forest cover is due to logging activities. - Different causes areas where the absence of a forest cover is due to natural accidents. |
Included areas (in forest areas) |
Include areas with no forest cover falling within a forest and having a small extent (minor than 0.2 ha) not interrupting the continuity of the forest. Can be distinguished in: - Permanently not productive: rocks, rivers, lakes, pasture and fields, agricultural lands, forestry nurseries, etc. - Temporally not productive: bare lands or abandoned agricultural that may be colonized by woody formations. |
Source: IFNI 1985
National classes |
National definitions |
Broadleaved forests |
Vegetation formation composed principally of trees, including shrubs and bush understories, where broadleaved species predominate |
Coniferous forests |
Vegetation formation composed principally of trees, including shrub and bush understories, where coniferous species predominate |
Mixed forests |
Vegetation formation composed principally of trees, including shrub and bush understories, where broadleaved and coniferous species co-dominate |
Moors and heathland |
Vegetation with low and closed cover, dominated by bushes, shrubs and herbaceous plants (heath, briars, broom, gorse, laburnum, etc.) |
Sclerophyllous vegetation |
Bushy sclerophyllous vegetation. |
Transitional woodland/shrub1 |
Bushy or herbaceous vegetation with scattered trees. Can represent either woodland degradation or forest regeneration/colonization. |
Source: Corine Landcover update 2000
National classes |
Area ha (1985) |
High forest |
2 178 900 |
Coppice |
3 676 800 |
Productive forest formation |
288 900 |
Particular woody formation |
2 160 900 |
Areas temporally without forest cover |
99 000 |
Included areas |
273 600 |
Source: IFNI 1985
National classes |
Area ha (2000) |
Broadleaved forests |
4 913 918 |
Coniferous forests |
1 261 057 |
Mixed forests |
1 030 334 |
Moors and heathland |
318 061 |
Sclerophyllous vegetation |
538 520 |
Transitional woodland/shrub |
1 501 737 |
Source: Corine Landcover update 2000
No calibration to match with the UN Statistical Division official land area was necessary since the source documents did not report a total land area. The total land area was taken straightforward from the FAO Stat and the inland water was calculated by subtracting the total land area from the total area of the country.
Due to the incompatibility of the national classifications, the reclassification was done according to the FRA categories. The estimate and forecast were then carried out on the reclassified data.
Table: Reclassification (Percentage allocation) into FRA 2005 classes
National Land use |
Percentage of a National class belonging to a FRA Class | ||||
Classes 1985 |
Forests |
Other Wooded Land |
Other Land |
Inland Water | |
Total |
Other Land with Tree Cover | ||||
Percentage |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
High forest |
100 |
||||
Coppice |
100 |
||||
Productive forest formation |
100 |
||||
Particular woody formation |
50 |
50 |
|||
Areas temporally without forest cover |
100 |
||||
Included areas |
100 |
||||
Source: IFNI 1985
National Land use |
Percentage of a National class belonging to a FRA Class | ||||
Classes 1995 |
Forests |
Other Wooded Land |
Other Land with Tree Cover |
Other Land |
Inland Water |
Percentage |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
Broadleaved forests |
100 |
||||
Coniferous forests |
100 |
||||
Mixed forests |
100 |
||||
Moors and heathland |
100 |
||||
Sclerophyllous vegetation |
100 |
||||
Transitional woodland/shrub |
100 |
||||
Source: Corine Landcover update 2000
The estimation for 1990 was done through a linear interpolation between the 1985 and 2000 data. By assuming that the defined trend could be valid for the near future, it was possible to extrapolate and forecast data for 2005. The short forecasted period (2000-2005) allowed the use of the linear trend rate but, as it will be further explained in the comments to Table 1, the same trend is not expected to continue in the future.
Data source |
Forest (ha) |
OWL (ha) |
IFNI 1985 |
7 234 050 |
1 080 450 |
Corine 2000 |
8 707 046 |
857 121 |
Table: Estimation for 1990 and 2000 and forecasting for 2005
Years |
Forest (ha) |
OWL (ha) |
1990 |
7 785 579 |
1 005 211 |
2000 |
8 707 046 |
857 121 |
2005 |
9 168 579 |
781 876 |
FRA 2005 Categories |
Area (1000 hectares) | ||
1990 |
2000 |
2005 | |
Forest |
7 786 |
8 707 |
9 169 |
Other wooded land |
1 005 |
857 |
782 |
Other land |
20 620 |
19 847 |
19 461 |
...of which with tree cover |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
Inland water bodies |
723 |
723 |
723 |
TOTAL |
30 134 |
30 134 |
30 134 |
The Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Forests and the Experimental Institute for Forest Management (MAF-ISAFA) carried out the first National Forest Inventory in 1985. Following the national inventory (IFNI), based on point sampling with a grid of 3 km by 3 km, the Italian forest extent was estimated to be 8.67 million hectares, including other minor forest formations and other wooded lands.
A second National Forest Inventory was planned to start around 2000 but results are not yet available.
The most recent data on forest cover area come from the European Corine Land Cover project and was obtained through a remote sensing survey based on Landsat images updated for 2000. The total forest extent was estimated at 9.7 million hectares, including transitional formations and other shrub formations.
Other important sources of information include the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), which provides annual data on the Italian forest area. The forest definition adopted by ISTAT implies a minimum forest cover density of 50% and a minimum forest extent of 0.5 hectares but can lead to an underestimation of the actual forest area, as it does not consider less dense formations and minor forest formations. For these reasons, and although ISTAT constituted an important set of historically comparable data, it was decided not to use this information source to estimate and forecast the forest area extent for the requested periods (1990, 2000, 2005).
The comparison between the IFNI data (1985) – which implies at least 20% of forest cover density and at least 0.2 hectares of forest extent – and the Corine Land cover (2000) – which implies at least 30% of forest density and a completely different methodology and classification system – was possible after having reclassified the data using the FRA forest classes. During the reclassification process, many assumptions were made because of the difficulty in comparing the national definitions and the FRA forest definitions.
The positive trend of forest area estimated for the period 1990-2000 and the positive trend forecasted for 2005, can be well explained by bearing in mind the forest colonization process of the abandoned agricultural areas. This process, started in 1950, was recently increased as a result of specific European Communities Agricultural policies (“set aside”, CEE 1094/88). The ISTAT agricultural statistics estimated that the decrease of the agricultural areas during the period 1990-2000 was equal to 3.1 millions hectares. Unfortunately, no real data could confirm how much of these abandoned agricultural areas are actually being colonized by forest, although it was assumed that the transitional Woodland category defined by the Corine land cover survey could give an idea of the forest expansion process.
1 Italian's peculiar case, the definition was interpreted mainly to be as “forest colonization”.
