1st National Forest Inventory of Andorra

Andorra Research + Innovation works on a forestry strategy linked to the circular economy promoting forest resilience in the context of climate change. This strategy aims to support public institutions to improve the knowledge of forests, to increase their capacity for conservation and to monitor their evolution both in time and space.

The basic strategic project included in this work strand is the National Forest Inventory of Andorra (INF1-AND, by its acronym in Catalan). The INF1-AND represents the first exhaustive and standardized data collection of the totality of the Andorran forests, comparable to the one carried out in any European country following the guidelines of the Joint Research Center and the European Forest Strategy. Beyond the research, this is a project that intends to provide tools and support to the Comuns and the Government to improve the existing knowledge about our forests.

The first of the reports resulting from INF1-AND describes the inventory protocol [1]. This includes access to the database (BD-INF1-AND) that brings together the information collected from the 194 plots measured during the fieldwork carried out in the summer of 2022.

In parallel to the database, Andorra Research + Innovation makes available to the public a spatial visualisation (see Figure 1) that allows to consult, in an interactive way, part of the data collected in the plots and the more than 9000 trees measured.

The second of the two published reports quantifies the carbon currently stored in Andorra's forests and its storage capacity (annual fixation rate) [2]. The general methodology is based on the use of data from the BD-INF1-AND. This study has made it possible to update the estimation of the country's annual fixation rate, a key element in the achievement of Andorra's climate objectives.

The third and last of the reports derived from this project details the methodology for estimating, for the whole territory, the biophysical variables of Andorra's forests [3]. In addition to the report, spatial visualisations have been generated that allow interactive consultation of the different biophysical variables estimated for the entire forested area of the country.

This project will serve as a basis for developing other studies in the different work strands of Andorra Research + Innovation and strategic for the country such as:

• The monitoring of the forests' carbon storage and its carbon sink capacity.
• The economic valuation of forest products and their use and distribution.
• The ecological and economic valuation of the ecosystemic functions of forests.
• Improvement of the fuel and flammability map for forest fire risk.
• Assessment of the vulnerability of forests to pests and droughts.
• Assessment of the role of forests in the mitigation of geological hazards.
• Calculation of the potential distribution of the "gall fer" and other threatened forest species.

INF1-AND has received funding from the Energy and Climate Change Office of Andorra in the framework of the study on the impacts and vulnerabilities of climate change. From a scientific point of view, receives the support of the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia, specifically from the Multifunctional Forest Management team, directed by Dra. Míriam Piqué.

[1] M. Beltrán, E. Busquets, M. Piqué, M. Domènech, and O. Travesset, “1r Inventari Nacional Forestal (INF1) del Principat d’Andorra. Metodologia d’establiment i seguiment de la xarxa de parcel·les permanents,” 2023.

[2] M. Beltrán, E. Busquets, G. Llena, M. Piqué, M. Domènech, and O. Travesset, “1r Inventari Nacional Forestal (INF1) del Principat d’Andorra. Estimació de l’estoc i l’embornal de carboni total als boscos d’Andorra,” 2023.

[3] M. Beltrán et al., E. Busquets, G. Llena, M. Piqué, M. Domènech, G. Grande and O. Travesset, “1r Inventari Nacional Forestal (INF1) del Principat d’Andorra Mapes de Variables Biofísiques dels boscos,” 2024.