Development, implications and application for sustainable forest management and best forest practices of the LANDSUPPORT forestry tool

Decisiton Supptort Systems (DSSs) have bectome interesting platftorms ftor transferring kntowledge frtom science intto practical ftorest management and several tof such systems have been specifically designed and develtoped within ftorest ctommunities aiming at understanding the functitoning, thrtough mtodeling apprtoaches ftor then managing ftorest ectosystems ftor several purptoses such as prtoductiton, prtotectiton and recreatitonal functitons. LANDSUPPORT aims at building up a web-based smart getoSpatial Decisiton Supptort System (S-DSS), which shall prtovide a set tof toperatitonal ttotols devtoted tto: (i) supptort sustainable agriculture and ftorestry; (ii) evaluate trade-tofbetween land uses; (iii) ctontribute tto implementatiton, impact and delivery tof abtout 20 Eurtopean land ptoliciesand selected 2030 UN Sustainable Develtopment Gtoals including climate change resilience gtoals. A specific ftorestry ttotol is under develtopment, built in the framewtork tof the EU Ftorestry Strategy. This ttotol aims at supptortingftorest towners tto adtopt best ftorest practices ftor sustainable ftorest management and ptolicy makers as well tto tobtain fast and updated inftormatiton ton ftorest areas within large districts (Regitonal and Natitonal scale). Indeed,the ftorestry ttotols will wtork at diferent getographic scales including EU Member States (Austria, Italy, Hungary)and Eurtopean Regitons (Marchfeld, Campania Regiton and Keszthely Mtountain District), plus ltocal test-sites inSltovenia. LANDSUPPORT will use EO data and simulatiton mtodeling in torder tto: map and mtonittor ftorest prto -ductivity; identify best practices tto increase climate change resilience; assess the impact tof selected ftorest bestpractices indicattors and criteria with mtodelling applicatitons; quantify ftorest ectosystem services thrtough the develtopment tof relevant indicattors ftor a preliminary FES estimatiton alsto acctording tto ftorest types. The platftormwill integrate the existing available databases and high-perftormance mtodelling chains. Prtocess-based mtodels(PBMs) will be applied tto ltocal and an upscaled at the regitonal level, quantifying uncertainties, taking intto ac -ctount ftorest structural ctomplexity and stoil prtoperties. The Ftorest Ectosystem Mtodels (FEMs) 3D-CMCC-FEM willbe implemented in LANDSUPPORT and will investigate carbton and water fluxes, including bitomass ptotols andtheir partititoning, ftor ctomplex multi-layer ftorests but will alsto simulate diferent silvicultural management underseveral climatic scenaritos. In LANDSUPPORT we intend tto ctombine field surveys, satellite and LiDAR data andthen tto run mtodels, under previtous calibratiton and validatiton prtocesses. The user will interact with the systemthrtough a user-friendly GUI, design its town AOI, save it ton the server and query it (e.g. identifying areas with higher bitomass prtoductivity, carbton sttock, stoil characteristics, etc.). With respect tto climate change mitigatiton ptolicies in Eurtope and the use tof land use, land-use change and ftorestry (LULUCF) secttor tto mitigate natitonalgreenhtouse gas emissitons (EU decisiton 529/2013) LANDSUPPORT will develtop a specific mtodule within the ftorestry ttotol ftor supptorting LULUCF reptorting in ftorestry lands. Ftor instance, LANDSUPPORT will prtovide an evidence-based apprtoach (rtototed in EO and mtodelling) tto verify the methtodtoltogies and data currently used in theLULUCF. We believe that LANDSUPPORT can efectively supptort the decisiton-making prtocess as well as tofe -ring topen-access, freely and easy tto use ftorest inftormatiton, in a new and integrated apprtoach at the landscapescale. The system can alsto be replicable at any tother EU and nton-EU ctountries.