Albania National Forest and Pasture Inventory (ANFI) is an ongoing process designed to provide accurate information about the size, distribution, composition and the state of our forests, forest lands, pastures and changes in forest lands over time. It is essential for the development and monitoring of policies and guidelines that support sustainable forest management.

Purpose of the National Forest and Pasture Inventory of Albania is to provide the necessary information for the develop of strategies and policies for the sustainable use and management of forests and pastures.
ANFI does not provide data on operational forest planning or medium-term management planning.
National Forest and Pasture Inventory (ANFI) provides data only at the national level and not at the plot or forest economy level.

The first ANFI was carried out in 1953, and was redone in 1968 and 1985, these inventories being caried out at the plot level by vegetation belts.
The subsequent National Forest and Pasture Inventories in our country, carried out in 2004 and 2021, are based on statistical methods that provide data at the national level and not at the plot level.

National Forest and Pasture Inventory generate data on forests, such as:
• Land Cover Categories in Albania;
• Pasture area in Albania;
• Forest area according to the Management method;
• Forest Structure by Forest Types;
• Forest Naturalness in Albania;
• Forests according to their Function;
• Forest area by Age Classes and Development Stages;
• Forest composition and forest types;
• Volume of living and the dead trees (located in the growing stock or fallen trees);
• Carbon sequestration in Forest;
• Forest by phytosanitary state;
• Forest area by ownership.

• Pasture area in Albania;
• Division of Pastures according to Grazing Seasonality (summer or winter);
• Classification of Pastures according to Vegetation Cover Composition;
• Distribution of Pastures according to the Method of Use;
• Pasture Area by Ownership;
• Species composition and structure of pastures.

National Forest Inventory Fieldwork Manual is a document that contains information and instructions about the methods and procedures followed when caring out fieldwork;
Fieldwork manual includes details on the methods used to carry out field measurements and assessments, the mandatory data to be recorded, the technologies used, and the tools used for this purpose;
Field works manual is important to ensure that field works are carried out in an effective and safe way;
The manual provides clear guidelines and standards that support field teams collect data and caring out measurements accurately and in accordance with appropriate standards and protocols;
Fieldwork Manual contains definitions and procedures used for the ANFI implementation. The manual also includes the assessment of forest and grassland vegetation following the guidelines developed by the FAO Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) program. It is based on the experiences of a number of National Forest Inventories, unified under the European NFI network;              It is based on the experiences of a number of National Forest Inventories, unified under the European network of NFI.

Open Foris (https://openforis.org/), is an open source software, developed/recommended by FAO, which is used for recording data collected and measurements carried out in the field. The indicators measured according to the Field Work Manual in the sampling plots cluster, are recorded on hand tablets in the Open Foris software. Then the collected data, measurements carried out and recorded on the tablet, for the ANFI sampling plot clusters, are sent to the central server, from where they are downloaded for further processing.

National Forest and Pasture Inventory (ANFI) has a total of 1100 sampling plot clusters, distributed across the country. In these sampling plot clusters, data are collected for:
– Data on measured trees;
– Data on the shrubs;
– Data on regeneration;
– Data on Non Wood Forest Production (NWFP);
– Data on pastures.

In addition to what is mentioned above, what makes the carry out the ANFI mandatory is the Law "On Forest" (57/2020), Article 6 of this law is cited:
"National Forest Inventory collects and assesses data on the extent and the state of the national forest area. It aims to assess spatial and temporary changes in the national forest area, providing quantitative and qualitative data, through a continuous and cyclical process, enabling periodic updating of the data";

Full cycle of national forest re-inventory is 8 years, inventorying 25% of the forest area every 2 years;

NFA is responsible for developing the methodology, organizing and leading the work for the forest inventory at the national level.