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.

Zusammenfassung
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).

Inhalt

Global Carbon Cycle, Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Mitigation.- Categories of Activities, Programmes and Projects Requiring Carbon Inventory.- Carbon Pools and Measurement Frequency for Carbon Inventory.- Carbon Inventory in Project Development, Implementation and Monitoring Phases.- Methodological Issues in Land-Based Projects.- Carbon Inventory Under Baseline and Project Scenarios.- Techniques for Estimation and Monitoring of Project Areas and Boundary.- Generic Methods for Inventory of Carbon Pools.- Methods for Estimating Above-Ground Biomass.- Methods for Below-Ground Biomass.- Methods for Dead Organic Matter: Deadwood and Litter.- Methods for Estimating Soil Organic Carbon.- Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques for Terrestrial Carbon Inventory.- Modelling for Estimation and Projection of Carbon Stocks in Land-Use Systems.- Carbon Inventory Methods for National Greenhouse Gas Inventory.- Estimation of Carbon Stocks and Changes and Data Sources.- Uncertainty Estimation, Quality Assurance and Quality Control.- Implications of Climate Change for Carbon Stocks and Inventory.