May 27, 2013. /Lesprom Network/. The first national forest inventory in Brazil was conducted in the 1980s and the focus was on assessing timber stocks. A new inventory is planned and will be broader in scope encompassing sustainability. Work on testing the methodology for the new inventory started in Santa Catarina and Brasilia in 2011 and full scale field work will begin this year and will be completed by 2016, ITTO reported.

The new inventory will provide authorities with more information enabling them to plan and implement appropriate policies in areas such as forest concession allocation and management and carbon stock assessments.

The inventory is expected to provide a greater knowledge of the potential of the forests which represent about 62% of the 8.5 million square kilometers of the country.

The new forest inventory will not only provide information for developing conservation and environmental strategies but will also provide the means for developing sound economic strategies for the sustainable management from natural forest to ensure only legally sourced wood products enter the domestic market.

The new forest inventory will be based on some 20,000 data points across the country, 7,000 of which will be in the Amazon rainforest. The intention is to update this new inventory every five years.

The cost of the new inventory is estimated at R$150 million ($75 million), of which some R$65 million ($32.5 million) will be provided from the Amazon Fund administered by the Brazilian Development Bank.