1. Améliorer la résilience de la forêt et son adaptation au changement climatique

Mobile app Ukrainian Forest Protection for smartphones based on Android OS.

The app uses mobile devices for collection of data about pests and diseases. It has several levels of use:

• at first forestry specialists collect data about discovered cases
• this data is synchronized at all mobile devices of the enterprise and enters the database of "Forests of Ukraine" Geoportal
• furthermore, other forest specialists can review the information about the pest and disease cases, discovered in the forest enterprise
• if needed, the damaged area can be found in the field using the built-in GPS receiver, then verified or deleted. 

For the diagnostics of the damaged area, the built-in digital handbook can be used, which includes information about all pests and diseases found in the forests of Ukraine, structured with the visual materials, data on diagnostic features and protection/management measures.

After introduction of any of changes in the app, all the information become accessible at the "Forests of Ukraine" Geoportal, which allows to:

• print out reports for the enterprise level and regional level,
• review of identified and verified cases on the map,
• see the dynamics by pest and disease types, by the time,
• define and identify the location, distribution features and development of pathological processes in the forests of Ukraine.

Мобільний додаток Лісозахист для смартфонів на базі операційної системи Android.

Даний додаток передбачає використання мобільних пристроїв для збору інформації в лісі про появу шкідників або хвороб та має декілька рівнів можливостей: на першому етапі майстри лісу збирають дані про виявлені явища, ця інформація синхронізуються на всіх мобільних пристроях підприємства та потрапляє в базу Геопорталу "Ліси України". Далі фахівці підприємства (помічники лісничих, лісничі, інженери) мають змогу переглядати інформацію про виявлені осередки в усьому лісгоспі. За необхідності, можна знайти осередок на місцевості за допомогою вбудованого у смартфон GPS-приймача, підтвердити його або видалити.

Для діагностики осередку можна скористатися вбудованим електронним визначником, де зібрана інформація про всі хвороби та шкідники, притаманні лісам України. Визначник структурований, складається з наочних матеріалів і даних про діагностичні ознаки та заходи боротьби.

Після виконання будь-яких змін в додатку, вся інформація буде доступна на Геопорталі «Ліси України», де було розроблено декілька сторінок націлених на роботу з електронною базою осередків, а саме:

• друк звітності підприємств та ОУЛМГ,
• перегляд виявлених та підтверджених осередків на карті,
• відображення динаміки осередків в розрізі видів шкідників та хвороб, місяців,
• виявлення та визначення локації осередків, закономірностей поширення та розвитку патологічних процесів у лісах України.

Project activities were focused on a comprehensive representation of changes in forest stands and their dynamics (using different time series of remote sensing data) and the transition from spot monitoring (field measurements on sample plots) to large-scale monitoring. This will improve the efficiency of forest ecosystem protection and management measures. Project results have been presented in the form of publications and maps showing specific changes over the years. In addition, radio and television broadcasts, meetings, brochures and promotional films were used to inform the general public.

The main objectives of the project were:

• Monitoring of stand dynamics in Białowieża Forest (including analysis of tree species composition, monitoring of changes in the forest stand caused, among others, by tree death)
• Analysis of natural forest regeneration and rejuvenation, including the role of gaps,
• Establishment/determination of the combination of different remote sensing techniques and data sets that are optimal for forest monitoring,
• Characteristics of the microclimate of the Białowieża Forest,
• Promotion of Białowieża Forest through the use of multimedia.

The main expected results of the project:

• Detailed analysis and maps showing in subsequent years, following information about the Białowieża Forest: Forest stand characteristics (growing stock and biomass, tree height, DBH, canopy cover and its diversity, forest diversity, tree species composition, vertical structure, biomass, etc.), location and size of dead trees, location and size of gaps, dynamics of natural forest regeneration and amount of lying dead wood.
• Map of plant communities with identification of different tree species;
• Development of monitoring methods for the dynamics of the Białowieża Forest using a small number of sample plots and additional remote sensing data covering the entire study area;
• Master tree ring chronology of the selected tree species in the Białowieża Forest;
• A unique geoportal containing created spatial data on the Białowieża Forest.

The scope of the projects included issues related to:

• operation and maintenance of drainage equipment,
• the beaver's impact on water quality,
• forest management in the vicinity of surface waters,
• modern tools supporting water management in forests.

Among the main practical results of the projects there are: 

- Mobile apps:

• WAMBAF (available on Android and iOS), developed to support the ditch inventorying and ditch management in forests. Application is connected to the GIS system available on: http://www.wambaf.com/?page_id=154&lang=en,
• Blue Targeting (available on Android and iOS), a forestry planning tool which helps you design a riparian forest buffer. The aim is to protect water quality and biodiversity by proposing the right measure, at the right place, to the right extent.

- Wet Area Maps – available for Sweden, Poland, Finland and Latvia, based on airborne laser scanning data. Maps illustrate the occurence of groundwater and may be used in the planning of wood harvesting operations.

- Developing the algorithm for drainage ditches detection basing on airborne laser scanning data. It will be published as open source in 2022.

In the projects several Good Practice Manuals have been developed, regarding: water management in riparian forests, structures for water retention in forests and beaver population management. The manuals are available in several language versions. Main target groups were: forest managers, harvesting machines' operators, land owners, hunters and nature conservation units. The coordinator of the projects was Swedish Forest Agency (Skogsstyrelsen).

Mit Aja hat das Start-up-Unternehmen foldAI eine Lösung für das Monitoring des Waldzustands entwickelt, die eine konkrete Entscheidungsunterstützung für die Durchführung forstlicher Maßnahmen liefert und gleichzeitig ein umfassendes Verständnis der Waldökosysteme ermöglicht. Durch den Einsatz von modernstem maschinellem Lernen auf der Grundlage präziser Sensordaten in Echtzeit erlaubt Aja nicht nur, Waldbedrohungen sehr früh zu erkennen, sondern ihre Entstehung vorherzusagen und den weiteren Verlauf zu prognostizieren. Aja verbessert die Gesundheit, die Widerstandsfähigkeit und die bioökonomische Leistung der Wälder, indem es schlanke Prozesse für ein Ökosystemmanagement auf breiter Basis ermöglicht. Waldbewirtschaftung wird durch eine vollautomatische, hochauflösende und erschwingliche Lösung für mehr als 30 Millionen Waldbesitzer in Europa, Russland und Nordamerika unterstützt.  Aja basiert auf eingebettetem maschinellem Lernen und biochemischer und ökologischer Signalverarbeitung auf hochdimensionalen Daten. Anwendungsszenarien sind etwa die Bewertung von Umweltauswirkungen, die eine genauere Abschätzung der Umweltfolgen einer Strategie oder Politik ermöglicht, aber auch die Risikobewertung und Warnung vor akuten Bedrohungen. Darüber hinaus erlaubt die Lösung auch die Messung der biologischen Vielfalt und des Zustands von Ökosystemen. Die signifikante Auswirkung von Aja auf die Kohlenstoffreduzierung wurde von unabhängiger Seite durch The Climate Impact Forecast zertifiziert.

The startup foldAI has developed sensors to screen health status of forests providing forest managers with a rich understanding of their forest ecosystems, and a decision toolbox to deploy immediate mitigating actions. The team’s solution, Aja, used in the sensors is  a framework for ecosystem management based on deep technology. By harnessing state-of-art Machine Learning on precise, real-time sensor data, Aja can not only detect forest threats as they happen, but even predict their arising and forecast their unfolding. Aja improves forest health, resilience and bioeconomical performance by introducing lean processes to a broad ecosystem management community. It helps reducing greenhouse emissions by scaling high resolution forest management through a fully automated and affordable solution for more than 30 Million forest owners in Europe, Russia and North America. The solution builds on embedded Machine Learning, and biochemical and environmental signal processing on high-dimensional data. Use cases comprise the assessment of environmental impacts enabling greater accuracy in the evaluation of the environmental consequences of a strategy or policy, risks assessment including alerts to threats, biodiversity quantification and ecosystem health tracking. Aja’s significant carbon reduction impact has been independently certified by The Climate Impact Forecast.

Never has the world had greater need for sustainable solutions. Think wood is an industry initiative from several companies and organizations within the Norwegian forest and wood industry. Together, we want to show how forests and trees can contribute in the fight against climate changes. Since its inception in 2019, the project has developed a number of articles and films, which easily and engagingly show what kind of products can be made of wood. Everything that is currently made of oil can in principle also be made of wood – and that with far lower emissions. The overall goal of the initiative is to show people why forests and wood are an important part of the climate solution. If we are going to achieve the UN’s sustainable climate goals, consumers, businesses, and politicians must actively choose renewable resources, such as wood, over non-renewable resources like petroleum and coal. Wood is the future. Not only as a resource, but as a green job creator all over Norway.

The main objective of SISREP is to make use of the information obtained during inspections in the framework of aid for afforestation and the creation of forest areas in Castilla y León in order to:

• Use of the information obtained in the field for the management of the controlled files.
• Creation of a centralised and geo-referenced database with information on the state of plantations.
• To be able to predict, by means of artificial intelligence techniques, the success of future plantations.
• With the knowledge extracted, review and improve the planning of future actions, allowing the implementation of the most appropriate technical conditions for the new environmental circumstances.

To this end, an infrastructure has been designed and implemented that allows the digitalisation of the entire workflow, from data collection in the field to the use of these data in advanced statistical analysis tools.

The data collected in the field are for example species, altitude, density, slope, method, orientation, age, lithography, with or without sowing, or area.

Forest machine is the most natural and effective way to access a forest fire area. Operations in difficult terrain come as second nature to them, and they have more than enough capacity in their hydraulic system for demanding conditions. The firefighting equipment is delivered to the fire location as a single package – and after it has been connected to forest machine hydraulics, the equipment is ready to operate.

The 10 m³ water tank of the firefighting equipment can be filled with its own pump from a natural water source or the tank of a fire truck. The water cannon has a range of 47 metres and a turning radius of 360 degrees. It takes 5 to 10 minutes to refill the tank. The filling hose is guided by the forwarder's boom and the strainer on the tank roof takes out the biggest debris. The water cannon is controlled with the remote control. The system draws its power from the hydraulics of the forwarder.

The LasInfo system is a comprehensive product consisting of several interlinked applications. It is targeted at national parks, municipal and communal forests and experimental forestry units. It provides support for forest land management and monitoring of timber harvest and sales, as well as for the implementation of tasks specified in the protection plan and nature monitoring.

The solution consists of four basic modules: the central database, the LasInfo Client application, the GIS application and the Forester’s Electronic Logbook. This allows for coordinated management of elements such as nature conservation, forest management, spatial data and cadastral data. It is possible to tailor the solution to individual users by implementing only some or all elements of the system. The shared database in turn eliminates the problem of incompatibility between different systems and data formats.

Components of the LasInfo system:

• Software: centralized database, LasInfo application, LasInfo Timber Trade application, Digital Map, Nature Monitoring, Mobile GIS.
• Devices/infrastructure: server (local or "in the cloud"), network and VPN devices, mobile devices.

Functionalities of the Lasinfo system:

• property records: cadastral records, forest inventory data;
• planning (protection tasks) system: stock surveys, creation of planning items, handling of invitations to tender, register of execution (work orders, work acceptance);
• timber sales: documentation on incoming and outgoing timber, timber contracts, timber stock, forester's logbook;
• Forest protection and silviculture documents: dead wood inventory, fire registry, regeneration assessment report, natural regeneration assessment report;
• reporting of: planned works, timber sales, work orders/executions;
• numerical map: the Digital Forest Map standard, the GIS data standard in nature conservation, nature monitoring, map reporting, mobile GIS.

The system has been rolled out in 11 Polish national parks; moreover, among the LasInfo users are forestry experimental units (Murowana Goślina, Siemianice, Rogów, Krynica-Zdrój), municipal and communal forest managers and maritime offices managing forest areas.