CzechTerra – adaptation of landscape carbon reservoirs in the context of global change (SP/2d1/93/07)
Statistical forest inventory Nature protection Environmental management Urban planning
Detailed project pages

CzechTerra, announced and financed by the Ministry of the Environment of the CR, is an integration project which addresses the adaptation of landscape units, or more precisely, of ecosystems of the Czech Republic to the ongoing global climate changes. It was launched in mid-2007 and it will last until the end of 2011. Its solution is divided into three work segments, while IFER is the principal administrator of the third segment titled Development of a Dynamic Observation Network Providing Information on the Condition, Evolution of Forest Ecosystems, and Land Use. This particular work segment's goal is the creation of an efficient information system which would be applicable for assessment needs and permanent monitoring of terrestrial ecosystems' evolution and land use at a state level. Reporting information on land use is required for meeting the obligations ensuing from the Czech Republic's signing of several international conventions (Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – UNFCCC – and its Kyoto Protocol, Convention on Biological Diversity – CBD, European Landscape Convention – ELC).

To monitor the required landscape features, a network of 1,599 permanent research plots/localities was established. The actual landscape inventory proceeds on two levels:
- evaluation of aerial photographs – its objective is to determine the surface area of the basic land use categories, forest acreage, diversification within the forest complexes, and landscape fragmentation or connectivity. The aerial photographs are classified by way of raster grids.
- Field survey – its goal is to determine the standing stock, age and diameter distribution, carbon supply, species composition, and regeneration status; furthermore, an assessment is made of the naturalness of the forest stand, occurrence of introduced woody species, dead wood volume, forest acreage according to the FAO and NFI definitions, stand diversity with respect to the quality structure of the timber volume to be felled (in a certain year), soil carbon supply, and soil type.

The actual data collection and their subsequent processing is carried out by way of the Field-Map technology.
In the first year of the project (2007), primarily the theoretical points of departure were analysed and the project's methodology became established. In 2008-2009, the field survey itself shall take place, followed by the classification of aerial photographs and determination of the procedures for assessment and interpretation of the results. In 2010, complete evaluation of the first project's cycle shall be produced with a preparation of a potential new project's cycle in 2011. If the inventory is repeated, the entire project will gain further significance and its results will acquire higher value since it will be possible to have a notion of the tendencies or changes in the terrestrial ecosystems of the CR.
The advantage of the whole project is its openness and accessibility of the results to the public.