 United
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Trettin Reviews Finnish Forest Carbon Cycling Research Program
The Finnish Forestry Research Institute (Metla) commissioned an external panel to review its program "Pools and Fluxes of Carbon in Finnish Forests and Their Socio-economic Implications" (HMS). The program’s principal goals include
- Conducting research on the carbon cycle in Finnish forests relative to the biological, physical, and social sciences
- Producing information needed to address issues associated with carbon and greenhouse gas accounting, carbon inventory, and resource management
Researchers designed the HMS program to enhance understanding of the carbon cycle in boreal forests and to contribute relevant information for policy and decision-making. Carl Trettin, Southern Research Station project leader for the Charleston unit; Mats Olsson, professor, Swedish Agricultural University; and Hans Fredrik Hoen, professor, Agricultural University of Norway, comprised the review panel. The panel met in Vaanta, Finland on May 26-27, 2003 and evaluated the progress of the work relative to the HMS plan and considered the overall the program’s overall relevance. The HMS program is a significant and promising initiative due to the need for greenhouse gas data in relation to the Kyoto Protocol and development of guidelines on how to mitigate emissions through land use and land-use change in forestry. Metla serves as the lead agency, but the work also involves scientists and students from the University of Helsinki and the University of Joensuu.
The HMS program consists of three principal research tasks:
- Addressing pools and fluxes of carbon on mineral soils and peat lands
- Modeling forest carbon cycles
- Determining the forest carbon sink and economic costs of the Kyoto protocol
Several studies comprise each task, with overall program coordination by the Metla staff. Metla serves as the lead agency because it is in a position to identify the most important and relevant research needs, and to ensure that the research findings are synthesized in a manner useful to policy makers. The program also involves scientists and students from the University of Helsinki and the University of Joensuu. Metla's mission entails promoting the ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable development of forests and forestry through research. You can learn more about Metla and the HMS program at the Web site http://www.metla.fi/ohjelma/hms/index-en.htm.
Trettin, project leader of the Center for Forested Wetlands Research, is collaborating with Finnish scientists in the development of a forest soil carbon model. The Southern Global Change Program co-sponsors this research. Trettin served as an external reviewer of a previous program on carbon cycling in peatlands that was sponsored by the Finnish Academy of Sciences. To learn more about the Center for Forested Wetlands Research, visit http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/charleston/.
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