Carbon Inventory Methods: Handbook for Greenhouse Gas Inventory, Carbon Mitigation and Roundwood Production Projects

Global awareness of environmental issues has increased on an unprecedented scale. Deforestation, land degradation, desertification, loss of biodiversity, global warming and climate change are some of the environmental issues linked directly to t- restrial ecosystems, both natural and human-managed. Forests, grasslands and c- plands constitute over 63% of the global land area. Terrestrial ecosystems play a critical role in the global carbon cycle. Global rise in demand for food, fodder, fuel and roundwood is increasing the pressure on land-use systems, and conservation and sustainable development of land-use systems are critical for meeting those demands sustainably and stabilizing CO concentration in the atmosphere to miti- 2 gate global climate change. My interest in carbon flows in forest ecosystems was initiated about 15 years ago with the global concern about the contribution of the growing CO emissions 2 to climate change. My first paper about carbon flows was published in 1996 in Climatic Change; since then my interest and the global interest have only increased (R).

Carbon inventory requiring estimation of carbon dioxide emissions and removals in land-use categories for national greenhouse gas inventory and changes in stocks of carbon in projects aimed at climate change mitigation has become increasingly important in global efforts to address climate change. Hence, there is a need for a handbook that provides guidelines and methods required for carbon inventory.

Carbon Inventory Methods Handbook provides detailed step-by-step information on sampling procedures, field and laboratory measurements, application of remote sensing and GIS techniques, modeling, and calculation procedures along with sources of data for carbon inventory.

The unique feature of this handbook is that it provides practical guidance on carbon inventory methods for four kinds of projects, namely, 1) development, implementation and monitoring of carbon mitigation in forest, agriculture and grassland sectors, 2) national greenhouse gas inventory in agriculture, forest, and other land-use categories, 3) forest, grassland and agroforestry development and 4) commercial and community forestry roundwood production.

Carbon Inventory Methods Handbook is an essential source of reference to universities and research institutions dealing with climate change, consultancy and non-governmental organizations involved in developing and monitoring land-based mitigation projects, donor agencies funding carbon mitigation projects, national greenhouse gas inventory agencies, United Nations agencies and mechanisms such as Clean Development Mechanism and Global Environment Facility, roundwood production and land reclamation project developers and managers, and forest departments.