Carbon sink by the forest sector—options and needs for implementation

The important role of forests in the carbon cycle suggests that the management of forests might be used to offset emissions. Newly developing markets will support these socially desirable ends only if a new specified policy framework is formulated and the landowners develop individually tailored projects. From the point of view of the developing countries, carbon-sink policy needs to be integrated in an overall policy against deforestation and forest degradation. Managing the risk of climatic change is an underestimated challenge for all branches of forest science and might bring dramatic changes to all stakeholders in the forest sector. Most worrisome is the current state of the quality of global forest information. But further uneasy scientific questions about forest carbon sinks remain open