Introduction
Monitoring and reporting on changes to forest carbon stocks is essential for policymakers (both national and European) in order to be informed of trends in the forest sink evolution and to develop annual approximated greenhouse gas inventories. Remote sensing data sets can be helpful in estimating or verifying forest living biomass gains and losses, forest area changes, forest health status and in identifying carbon-rich old-growth forests or natural disturbances.
Scope
– Mitigation potential of afforestation and other forest activities including their opportunity costs.
– Renewable energy targets and the needs of forest-based bioeconomy for sustainable domestically-sourced feedstock.
– Assessment of trade-offs and synergies between climate-oriented forest management, and other objectives
Objectives
– A comprehensive assessment of the climate mitigation potential of European forests and forest-based sector through modelling of different policy pathways.
– Inform public authorities on the most suitable approach to forest policy and forest bioeconomy.
– Development and improvement of robust and transparent methodologies for high-resolution monitoring and reporting of forest carbon pools and their interactions through a combination of in-situ data collection and remote sensing methods.
