Forest management and carbon captures: Analytical aspects and policy implications

Abstract

In the last few years there has been an increasing tendency to consider forest ecosystems as possible sinks of carbon dioxide. In this way, it is attempted to mitigate the dramatic increase of global emissions of this gas in the industrialised countries. This new context implies modifications in basic aspects of the forest management discipline, like the determination of the forest optimal forest rotation, including the new European grants. In this paper, some recent experiences in this direction will be critically reviewed and some new ideas will be considered. With this purpose in mind three cases are studied: one species of short rotation (Populus sp.), another one of medium rotation (Pinus radiata D. Don.) and finally one species of long rotation (Pinus sylvestris L.).