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Greenhouse gas inventory for forests
Project
Project code: TI-WO-08-PID507
Contract period: 01.01.2001
- 31.12.2016
Purpose of research: Inventory & Assessment
Forests can mitigate climate change by the long-term carbon sequestration in forest stands and soils. However, a loss of carbon in forest biomass and soils have adverse effects. Thus, we need a thorough inventory of the greenhouse gas balance of forests in order to assess the role of forests and forestry in climate protection.
Due to the ratification of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto protocol, Germany is obliged to report yearly of the effects of land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) on the greenhouse gas balance.
Carbon sequestration or loss in forests is detected mainly in five pools. In stock, these are the above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass and dead wood. In forest soils the litter and mineral soil are recorded. Main sources of information for this is the National Forest Inventory (NFI) and the National Soil Inventory (BZE). The inventory data for the change of growing stock are converted into carbon stocks with biomass expansion factors. These calculations will be updated continuously through the use of the latest research results and other data sources. The soil data for the change in the carbon stock are derived via models for the spatial transmission of the data of BZE. There is also a calculation for emissions of other greenhouse gases such as CH4 or N20, for example, from forest fires and changes in the water balance of bog forest.
Section overview
Subjects
- Forestry
- Climate Change