Carbon pools and fluxes in Norwegian forests - regional distribution patterns and forest management

In the Kyoto protocol, increased lockup of CO2 in forests has been suggested as an important measure to reduce the CO2 increase in the atmosphere. Additional direct human-induced sinks related to forest management (par. 3.4) and afforestation (par. 3.3) a re the two practices that have most relevance for the forest C budgets in Norway. This raises the question of whether, how and for how long afforestation and management of forests will affect the C stocks in the systems. Presently, large uncertainties exi st with regard to the carbon sequestration potential of forests in Norway and with regard to how this potential may be maximized by forest management. To increase the current knowledge on C pools and fluxes in Norwegian forests, we propose a large integra ted project involving Skogforsk, NIJOS and LJVF/NLH. The work will focus on three aspects of C sequestration in Norway: 1) analysis of national and regional data on C stock based on different data bases, 2) the effects of different forest management strat egies (thinning regimes, selective cutting and tree species choise) on C stocks and C fluxes, and 3) the effects of afforestation in western Norway on C pools.