Forests play an important role in regulating the climate of the Earth. Deforestation accounts for a substantial percentage of global carbon emissions (about 10 to 18 %). Increasing forest area and avoiding deforestation and forest degradation are key components of climate change mitigation. The UNFCCC has called for transparent, reliable and accurate inventories of carbon emissions and stocks at regional and national scales from all signatory countries as a first step towards climate mitigation. National carbon inventories rely on the integration of field measurements, remote sensing data and models. International efforts such as REDD+ and various carbon markets are being developed which allow developing nations to benefit financially from avoided emissions from deforestation or forest degradation as long as these can be quantified.

Apart from the overview of forest carbon stocks and change, this module provides methodologies for forest carbon measurement and monitoring.