In many European countries, the importance of wood production has been declining over the last decades in favour of other forest functions. However, recent policy targets for bioenergy and emphasis on the contribution of forests to the bio-economy have sparked interest in availability and mobilisation of wood from the forest and triggered the development or improvement of forest projection systems to assess future wood availability under different scenarios. As a result, a variety of approaches to modelling future woody biomass supply are currently used, making the comparison of results difficult. Additionally, the lack of mutual understanding among supply experts and wood industry experts often leads to misunderstandings regarding the availability of woody biomass. The book provides a unique collection of structured and detailed descriptions of the projection systems used in Europe and North America and of how wood resources are assessed and monitored by national forest inventories. The reader will find contextualizing accounts of forests and the issues that triggered the development of each system disclosing the situation in countries where National Forest Inventories have recently been implemented but no such tools have been developed. Additionally, a whole chapter is dedicated to the description of the European level tools that can be used, including their advantages and limitations. Finally, it provides a discussion on the future challenges.

This book is written for experts in the field of assessment and modelling of wood resources, private practitioners and public administration and decision-makers interested in deepening their knowledge about the projection systems used for officially reporting woody biomass availability in several European countries and North America.