This book demonstrates in detail all phases of the 9th National Forest Inventory of Finland (1996-2003): the planning of the sampling design, measurements, estimation methods and results. The inventory knowledge accumulated during almost one hundred years is consolidated in the book. The purpose of the numerous examples of results is to demonstrate the diversity of the estimates and content of a national forest inventory. The most recent results include the assessment of the indicators describing the biodiversity of forests. The Finnish NFI has been and is a model for many countries worldwide. The methods and results of the book are set in the international context and are applicable globally. The book provides a valuable information source for countries, institutions and researchers planning own inventories as well as modifying the existing ones, or seeking the applicable definitions and estimation methods to use in their own inventories.

Building on more than a decade of innovative research into multi-source forest inventory (MS-NFI) this book presents full details of the development, outputs and applications of the improved k-NN method. The method, which was pioneered in Finland in 1990, is rapidly becoming a world standard in forest inventory, having been adopted as standard in Finland and Sweden, and recently introduced in Austria and across the US.

The book describes in detail the full MS-NFI process, and the input data used - including field data, satellite images, and digital map data, as well as coarse-scale variation of forest variables. It also presents comprehensive information on the types of outputs which can be derived, including maps and statistics, describing, for example, stock volumes and development, dominant tree species, age-class distribution, and large and small-scale variation.

The book will provide an invaluable resource for those involved in forest inventory, including government departments and bodies involved in forest policy, management and monitoring, forest managers, and researchers and graduate students interested in forest inventory, modelling and analysis. It will find an additional market among those interested in Earth observation, ecology and broader areas of environmental and natural resource management.

Erkki Tomppo was the winner of the 1997 Marcus Wallenberg Prize for his work on the k-NN method.

Reliable information on forest resources and the status of forests at the national level is required for various purposes, such as making strategic decisions, formulating regulations and recommendations for forest management, aimed at ensuring the availability of sufficient supply of timber for the forest industries as well as in their strategic planning of investments. It is also essential in planning forest protection and for maintaining biodiversity. Global agreements, such as the Kyoto Protocol, increasingly rely on national forest statistics. National Forest Inventories in Finland have evolved gradually over a period of one hundred years, first with a trial inventory in the 1910s, and since the 1920s, with operative inventories. The sampling design and estimation methods have been continuously revised to correspond with inventory techniques and the available infrastructure. The content, as well as the collected data and variables employed, are constantly adapted to the users' needs. Co-operation with the inventories of other countries, particularly with those of the Nordic countries, has supported these developments. This book demonstrates in detail all phases of the 9th National Forest Inventory of Finland (1996-2003): the planning of the sampling design, measurements, estimation methods and results. The inventory knowledge accumulated during almost one hundred years is consolidated in the book. The purpose of the numerous examples of results is to demonstrate the diversity of the estimates and content of a national forest inventory. The authors hope that the book will help in designing and conducting any large area forest inventory.