Taper Equations and Wood Products: Assessing the Carbon Flow of the Forest Through Its Products

In recent years, from the signing of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 until it came into force in February, 2005, thousands of publications have been released relating to the fulfilment of the protocol and ways of measuring carbon fluxes all over the world. From the point of view of forests, it was considered a great opportunity to enhance the value of our forests, beyond the traditional accounting of wood production and its value.

The sequestration accounting methodology proposed by the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) through the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) does not take into account forest products as a carbon sink (IPCC, 2000a), assuming that all carbon in the harvested biomass is oxidised in the removal year (Dias et al., 2005). As is known, a large part of the carbon remains stored in long-lived wood products and persists for decades (IPCC, 2000b). Furthermore, wood may indirectly reduce carbon emissions since it can be a substitute material for steel or concrete in construction (Werner et al., 2005).