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Afforestation in the UK has been significant and continuing since 1920 (up to 30,000 ha per year). Planting data is used to drive a dynamic process-based carbon accounting model (C-Flow) to estimate removals of atmospheric CO2 to these forests. It is assumed that the afforestation can be represented by the characteristics of Sitka spruce for conifers and beech for broadleaves. The present area of forest considered for these estimates is 1.6 millions ha. In 1990 the uptake to trees, litter, soil and products was 2.6 terragramme C, rising to 2.8 terragramme C in 1998. Deforestation is believed to be small. Supporting measurements show that the model predicts long term uptake by conifers well but that losses from planted peat shortly after establishment need further consideration. Process modelling of beech growth suggests that it is primarily dependant on atmospheric CO2 concentration and not on stomatal control per se. UK research priorities relevant to preparation of GHG (greenhouse gas) Inventories are presented.

The paper presents the total stem volume increment and total drain, as well as the corresponding carbon contents, of the trees of Finnish forests. The carbon contents are converted to carbon dioxide equivalents. The total increment is above stump stem wood volume increment including bark. The estimates come from the National Forest Inventory of Finland conducted by the Finnish Forest Research Institute. The method is briefly described. The total drain includes fellings, i.e. removals and cutting waste, as well as natural mortality of above stump stem wood volume of trees including bark. The above stump stem volumes are converted to total tree biomass, total dry matter and total carbon content using available coefficients.

Since 1995, experiences have been gathered with the calculation of National Greenhouse Gas Inventories in Germany. Because only marginal changes of the total forested area occur in Germany, relevant changes of the balance of greenhouse gases in the forest sector are related to forest management. It was found that the increment of wood by far exceeds the harvested timber volume. Therefore, forests in Germany currently represent a significant sink for carbon (8-9 Mt C per year). In the context of the Kyoto Protocol, area afforested, reforested and deforested (Afforestation Reforestation Deforestation under Intergovernemental Panel on Climate Change definitions) is small. In contrast to the high quality of data from national forest inventories, reporting of Afforestation Reforestation Deforestation areas involves high error due to lacks and inconsistencies in national land-use statistics.