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The Future Use of Nordic Forests pp 99–109Cite as

Climate-Related Forest Policies and Trends

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Abstract

As part of the carbon cycle, forests have a place in climate-related forest policies and trends. By describing forest-related measures driven by international climate negotiations, such as the afforestation and reforestation under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), or the voluntary carbon market, this chapter illustrates how carbon has become an important but fuzzy commodity. The demand for carbon-focused measures is also seen in suggested activities in the Swedish context, shown with the Arctic Boreal Climate Development (ABCD) project. It can be said that due perhaps to the complexity involved in quantifying and accounting for carbon, other benefits such as energy substitution or improved hydrology from carbon-improving management strategies are being enhanced in the debate.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Total global emissions from all sectors and including all greenhouse gases listed in IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report (2007) are 49 Gt of CO2 equivalents per year (based on 2004 data); 1 t of C = 3.664 t of CO2. Due to differences in global warming potential between greenhouse gases, the term CO2 equivalents (CO2e) is used.

  2. 2.

    The “+” refers to carbon enhancement, forest conservation, and sustainable management of forests.

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Acknowledgments

This chapter that was written in early 2013 is based on ideas, discussions, and writings developed jointly with my colleague Lisa Westholm, whom I would like to greatly acknowledge here. I would also like to thank Sabine Henders, Eva Lövbrand, Eskil Mattsson, Reidar Person, and Hans Petersson for their input regarding the text, as well as those involved in the Swedish research network Focali (www.focali.se).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research (CSPR)/Tema V, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

    Madelene Ostwald

  2. Centre for Environment and Sustainability (GMV), University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden

    Madelene Ostwald

Authors
  1. Madelene Ostwald
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Correspondence to Madelene Ostwald .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Urban & Rural Development, Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

    Erik Westholm

  2. Unit of Political Science, Luleå University of Technology (LTU), Luleå, Sweden

    Karin Beland Lindahl

  3. Ecosystems Services and Management, Int'l Inst. for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria

    Florian Kraxner

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Ostwald, M. (2015). Climate-Related Forest Policies and Trends. In: Westholm, E., Beland Lindahl, K., Kraxner, F. (eds) The Future Use of Nordic Forests. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14218-0_7

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