E21 - Contribution of forests and forestry to mitigate greenhouse effects

The objective of COST Action E21 has been to develop a commonly agreed carbon accounting strategy concerning the contribution of European forests in achieving the commitments taken in the Kyoto Protocol.

After comprehensively reviewing the existing national reporting systems, a Working Group of COST Action E21 has successfully developed a strategy allowing the comparison, as well as the harmonisation of the data provided by the very divergent national carbon stock inventory methods used in the forest/wood products sectors. This strategy has been recognised as an established method by the IPCC and will be used by the member countries in reporting for the Kyoto Protocol. Particular improvements have been achieved on a European level in the estimation of the stem volume and the biomass of different tree species as well as the assessment of the soil carbon content.

Furthermore, the Action successfully reviewed the effects of forest management on carbon sequestration in order to identify forest management strategies that could enhance carbon mitigation. Potentials for sequestration management in European forests have been assessed and the impacts of various forest management activities have been examined. By analyzing the CO2 reduction potential of wood arising from the substitution of other materials as well as studying the economic and social implications of carbon mitigation strategies in forest management COST Action E21 has contributed actively to the ongoing policy processes at national, regional and global level.

Researchers cooperating in COST Action E21 have been successful in launching a large research project on Multi-source inventory methods for quantifying carbon stocks and stock changes in European forests (CarboInvent) under FP5. By providing European wide harmonised data COST Action E21 has also erected networks with several other EU funded projects, such as CarboAge, Forcast, Carboeuroflux, Aerocarb, and CarboEurope.