If something like this does not exist, I would like to create a group to produce this. If there is a similar resource available, please let us know.
To improve interoperability of data and information systems as well as concept and terminology harmonization by
- providing permanent identifiers for central forest(ry) concepts
- find the corresponding terms in multiple languages, cultures and traditions
- map the concepts to the other major terminological sources available online such as Wikidata, Agrovoc, Eurovoc, Gemet
- See also: Saarikko, Jarmo & Prüller, Renate (2017) The future of forest terminology : between tradition and innovation. Interconnecting Forests, Science and People, Presentation at the 125th IUFRO Anniversary Congress, Freiburg, 2017
This could be accomplished under the IUFRO unit 9.01.01 - Library, information networks and terminology currently lead by Dr. G. Petrokofsky
Got to FORO Wiki to find out more about this project and ideas being suggested.
Editorial tool is still undecided. Would like to have an multiuser online-skos/RDF-editor. Any suggestions are welcome.
- To work locally on a standolone copy of an ontology a newly published (2026-04) tool is available: the SEMMweb Ontology Editor which works on Windows. The installer is available on their Github repository.
- See also the Tabular Ontology Maker
Forest-related vocabularies have been published regularly over the last 120 years. Only few are available online and most do not provide identifiers for the concepts so that they could be mapped. Some of the existing vocabularies online are e.g.
- Lexicon Forestale - multilingual, but a little outdated thesaurus in fi,sv,en,de,ru
- SilvaTerm (archived page). IUFRO has since then deleted this service in their latest updates in 2025. This was a multilingual terminological database of forestry concepts and their definitions - There was a Search form (archived from 2024-11)
- A Finnish company Kielikone provided a version of this at their "MOT Dictionaries" service, but is is not available any more (as of 2026-05)
- We have the original data for this database for this project.
- Global Forest Decimal Classification - glossary section (some 4000+ concepts, needs more work) - See the repo GFDC
- IUFRO publications (checked 2026-05)
- Includes vocabularies for Wildlife, Carbon, Scientific summaries, Abbreviations, Forest genetics, Forest health, Harmonization, IUFRO in-house terminology.
- FRA Terms and definitions (pdf) Global Forest Resource Assessment 2020
Searching for possible collaborators. e.g.
Organizations
Persons
- Gillian Petrokofsky Homepage - Linkedin - Twitter - Google Scholar
- Jarmo Saarikko - ORCD ID - Twitter - Linkedin - Google Scholar