The increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are one of the most severe current environmental problems. The annual atmospheric increase of carbon is estimated to be 3.2Pg (IPCC, 2001, p. 190). In comparison, the annual harvest of roundwood is about 3.5 billion cubic meters (FAO, 2006) and contains approximately 0.8 Pg carbon in roundwood (assuming 0.23 Mg C/m3) and is, hence, significant also for the global carbon balance. The estimated amount of carbon in forested areas is approximately 650–1,200Pg (House et al., 2003; Grace, 2004; FAO, 2006), most of which is located in forest soils. Recent aboveground biomass estimates are between 257 Pg (Kauppi, 2003) and 359 Pg (IPCC, 2001). Given the large amounts, even a small proportional change is influential.
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Valsta, L., Lippke, B., Perez-Garcia, J., Pingoud, K., Pohjola, J., Solberg, B. (2008). Use of Forests and Wood Products to Mitigate Climate Change. In: Bravo, F., Jandl, R., LeMay, V., von Gadow, K. (eds) Managing Forest Ecosystems: The Challenge of Climate Change. Managing Forest Ecosystems, vol 17. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8343-3_8
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