Above-Ground Carbon

Tree carbon stocks are relevant for quantifying terrestrial carbon storage and carbon sinks as well as for estimating potential emissions and removals from land cover changes (deforestation, reforestation, afforestation) and from biotic (pests, diseases) and abiotic (e.g. forest fires, windstorms) disturbances. Forests in particular have a key role in the global carbon cycle and are considered large and persistent carbon sinks thanks to the CO2 fixed by photosynthesis into organic matter, such as wood. Therefore, spatially explicit data and assessments of forest biomass and carbon are of paramount importance for the design and implementation of effective sustainable forest management options and forest related policies. The AGCI provides useful information about the tree carbon stocks and condition in protected areas, which can contribute to identify potentially degraded areas, evaluate the conservation performance of protected areas, set restoration targets, and assess the contribution of protected areas to reduce net global carbon emissions. In the assessment of AGCI, water bodies, urban areas, permanent snow/ice and bare area land cover classes mapped by the Climate Change Initiative – Land Cover map (Land Cover CCI, 2017) have been masked out for preventing distortions and potentially biased estimates that unvegetated areas, or areas with very low canopy cover, can cause in the assessment (Quegan et al. 2017).