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In the COST E21-Action ""Contribution of Forests and Forestry to Mitigate Greenhouse Effects"", emphasis is put on the quantification of carbon storage in the forest ecosystems and on the understanding of linkages between human activities and climate change, particularly the role of forests and forestry. COST E21 integrates natural, socio-economic as well as methodological aspects relevant for reporting under the unitéd Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, as well as decision-making at the European level in the context of carbon mitigation in forest ecosystems. This Action is a pioneering attempt to co-ordinate research: to exchange experience and knowledge towards standardised greenhouse gas inventory accounting for forests over Europe. It will match, within four years (1999-2003), both scientific and political agendas. This paper gives a background presentation of the COST E21-Action, its work plan and its clearing house. It finally gives the outline of country specific information to the COST E21 as presented in this issue in a standard format.

In Hungary, gross emissions of carbon amount to some 17.6 millions t C per year. Forestry, the only sector which can offset emissions, seems to be a net sink of 1.6 Mt C per year. Afforesting large areas could substantially increase the carbon fixing capacity of the Hungarian forests. To assess the possibilities of sequestering carbon by afforestation, the CASFOR model, an adaptation of the COMAP model, was developed for Hungarian conditions. The technical potential scenario showed that, by afforesting 773,000 ha of former agricultural land by 2050, some 46 millions t C could be sequestered. The specific costs of sequestering carbon by afforestation are pretty low.

In Greece, there is no official inventory for the activity land use, land use change and forestry. The national forest inventory was completed in 1992. Using the data of this inventory, the carbon store of woody biomass of Greece has been estimated by FAO-TBFRA (2000) as 52.04 millions t C, of which 46.36 millions t C is above stump biomass and 8.67 millions t C is stump and root biomass. The four highest priority mitigation options in the forestry sector in Greece are afforestation and reforestation; forest management improvements; protection of existing forests from forest fires and human pressure and substitution of fossil fuels with sustainably produced biofuel.