Italian Academy of Forest Sciences (AISF) is an autonomous independent non-profit institution, under the umbrella of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Affairs.
AISF promotes research on technical, economic and legal issues related to forest management and environmental protection; organises conferences, workshops and seminars in these fields; publishes academic proceedings, technical and scientific studies, surveys, monographs, collections of essays and journals; keeps linkages with similar national and foreign institutions; has a significant library specialized in forest sciences.
AISF’s members (currently 337) include some of the most authoritative Italian and foreign figures in the field of forest sciences.
AISF has extensively contributed to European projects related to the application of remote sensing and geomatics supporting the sustainable management of forest resources. AISF coordinated the study funded by the EEA aimed at providing the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE) with an European Forest Types (EFTs) classification for reporting Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) indicators.
AISF has also extensive experience of cooperation to European-scale research project dealing with: biodiversity issues related to forests and spatial distribution analysis (Life+ FUTMON, Downscaling); assessing the future vulnerabilities of forest ecosystems to climate change (Study on Impacts of Climate Change on European Forests and Options for Adaptation); estimating damages to forest services caused by forest fires (Development of a methodology for the analysis of socioeconomic impact of forest fires and economic efficiency of fire management).
AISF is part of a number of relevant European and global research networks in forestry and agriculture (IUFRO, EFI, and Union of the European Academies of Agriculture) and has a good experience of inter-institutional collaboration (EEA, JRC, FAO Silva Mediterranea).
FRESh LIFE - Demonstrating Remote Sensing integration in sustainable forest management 