1. Introduction and Overview
Development of Harmonised Indicators and Estimation Procedures for Forests with Protective Functions against
Natural Hazards in the
Alpine Space
Introduction and Overview

2. Long time ago …
A group of young and fearless scientists tried to cross the Alpine Space. After a one week‘s walk without any stop, freezing and suffering from thirst and hunger …
they decided to define common indicators to describe their hopeless situation in a harmonized way.
In case they have not died - they are still alive …
and live in harmony

3. The main idea: Merging expertise from
National Forest Inventory Experts
Natural Hazard Experts/Modellers
Forest Remote Sensing Experts

4. NFI NH
The consortium: RS
WSL
Cema
gref
BOKU
BFW
Gozdis
LWF
IFN

5. Main Objective:
to explore the possible contribution of the National Forest Inventories (NFIs) and other forest monitoring systems to assess the protective functions of forests in the alpine space

6. Operational Objectives:
to identify and derive the protective effect
to detect protection forests
to select indicators or proxies
to define thresholds
to verify the possibilities of combining field data with RS techniques

7. General approach: Three system components H D P Hazard Potential
Damage Potential D
Protective effect

8. General approach: H P D

9. Which Hazard processes?

10. Hazard process: Avalanche

11. Hazard process: Avalanche

12. Hazard process: Rockfall

13. Hazard process: Rockfall

14. Hazard process: Landslide

15. Coarse scale approach Fine scale approach Which scales:
Coarse scale mapping
Coarse scale statistical
Fine scale approach

16. Mapping of protective effect Indirect use of NFI plot data
Coarse scale mapping:
Mapping of protective effect
Indirect use of NFI plot data
Landsat imagery
also cross-boarder

17. Coarse scale statistical:
Frequencies of protective effect
Direct use of NFI plot data
Large areas
Landsat imagery
only for avalanche hazard

18. Indirect use of NFI information high resolution RS techniques
Fine scale:
Single valleys
Indirect use of NFI information
high resolution RS techniques
laser scanning
digital aerial photographs

19. Harmonized Indicators and Thresholds Depend on
Hazard type (A, R, L)
System component (H, D, P)
Scale (coarse and fine)
Availability (NFI - Remote Sensing – other sources)

20. Working Steps:
Forest mask
Hazard potential
Forest with potential
protective function
Damage potential
Forest with
protective function
Protective effect

21. Outside the scope:
Results and maps concerning the three system parts hazard potential, damage potential and protective effect, which are developed within ProAlp cannot be interpreted as concrete natural hazard indication mapping or risk zone planning

22. Inside the scope:
The intention of ProAlp is a science based development of indicators and procedures to evaluate the protective effect of forests. Delivered maps and figures are examples for the capability of the developed methods.
Delivered maps and
figures are examples for the capability
of the developed methods.