The National Forest Inventory of Serbia: State and possible further directions of development

A comparative analysis of National Forest Inventories (NFI) of many countries, including Serbia was made in the manuscript, in terms of methodology and in terms of the definition of different information collected about forest ecosystems. Further development of the NFI Serbia was also analyzed. It was determined that there are differences in national methodologies, but that they are not substantial and do not constitute an obstacle to the creation of uniform databases of forests at the regional and global levels as a prerequisite for political and professional action aimed at protecting and ensuring sustainability of all forest functions. Contrary to that, differences between national definitions for information that are collected by inventory are numerous, distinct and as such represent a major obstacle to the mentioned aspirations. The solution of the problem is standardization, i.e. in the far more acceptable harmonization process (adaptation) NFI, whereby such frameworks of that activity are imposed by the FAO (globally) and COST Action E43 (mainly in the European region). NFI Serbia, on the threshold of second realization, is burdened with a numerous institutional, organizational and methodological problems and dilemmas, inherited from the first measurement of Serbian forests. Therefore, an urgent recruitment of relevant experts is necessary to resolve and overcome problems, in order to ensure all the prerequisites for a successful implementation and obtaining reliable data of the second NFI, so that the future NFI can be alleviated of the conditions in which it is currently located. [Projekat Ministartsva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 37008: Održivo gazdovanje ukupnim potencijalima šuma u Republici Srbiji