Suitability Analysis for Stone Pine Reforestation using Geospatial Technologies

Abstract

The Stone Pine “pinus pinea” is native to the Mediterranean region. It has been used and cultivated for their edible pine nuts since prehistoric times. At present most of the decision makers in the world are enforcing new policies which will increase forest cover in their countries in order to mitigate the effect of the climate change specifically forest species that withstands harsh and climate change. In this research Geospatial technologies are used to help in the forest expansion as part of the forest management by implementing a new Stone pine suitability model. This model is applicable in any area in the world where the indicated natural and geographic conditions are met. The model was applied to an area rich in Stone pine and the results show that more than 60% of the total study area can be reforested. Hundreds of existing Stone Pine forest locations is used to verify the accuracy of the suitability map. The verification showed that 96% of these locations are on the high and medium classes of the map.