FORESTIA Operational Group: Innovative solution integrating remote sensing and artificial intelligence for forest management in Andalusia

Forests represent approximately 43% of the EU's land area, and most of them occupy more than half of the national surface. Forests, scrublands, grasslands, and other forest ecosystems make up approximately 50.27% of the territory of the Andalusian community. As shown, the forestry sector is very important in Andalusia, making it essential to implement actions that allow for efficient and sustainable use of resources.

In this sense, the use of new technologies in the forestry sector is a reality and a key opportunity in the fight against climate change, as it allows us to address such significant problems as deforestation and forest degradation. Digitalization in the forestry sector is here to stay, as forest management and planning currently involves the use and management of advanced information analysis technologies to manage large volumes of open data, whether proprietary or acquired through the Internet of Things (IoT).

The combination of aerial and/or ground-based LiDAR technology, Copernicus imagery, images from UAV-based sensors, forest inventory data, and other complementary information represents a unique opportunity for the development of a tool that, through advanced processing techniques, enables decision-making for sustainable forest management.