Abstract

From 2009 to 2013, a group of more than 100 researchers from 26 countries, under a COST-Action project named FORSYS, worked on a review of the use of forest management decision support systems (FMDSS). Guided by a template, local researchers conducted assessments of FMDSS use in their countries; their results were documented in Country Reports. In this study, we have used the Country Reports to construct a summary of FMDSS use. For the purposes of our analysis, we conducted a two-round categorisation of the main themes to describe the most relevant aspects of FMDSS use. The material produced was used to generate quantitative summaries of (i) the types of problem where FMDSS are used, (ii) models and methods used to solve these problems, (iii) knowledge management techniques, and (iv) participatory planning techniques. Beyond this, a qualitative analysis identified and summarised the local researchers' primary concerns, recorded in the conclusions to the Country Reports; we designated these "lessons learned". Results from the quantitative analysis suggested that most of the participant countries were making use of latest generation FMDSS. A few did not have practical problems that justified the use of such technology or they were still at the beginning of the process of building models to solve their own forest problems.

Keywords

decision support systems; information technology in forestry; forest management

Published in

Forests
2016, Volume: 7, number: 3, article number: 72
Publisher: MDPI AG

SLU Authors

• Eriksson, Ola

  • Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Trubins, Renats

  • Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Forest Science
Computer Systems


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/f7030072

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/81082