Forest and Climate
The Department of Forest and Climate conducts research on greenhouse gas emissions and uptake in forests and from other land use and land use changes, on measures to increase uptake and reduce emissions, and on the implications of the EU's climate regulations in Norway. The main focus is on forests and includes climate measures in forestry in terms of increased uptake and adaptation to a changed climate.
The department has a special responsibility to answer climate-related questions within forestry and land use. Some relevant questions are:
- What effects does land use change have on greenhouse gas emissions and uptake?
- How does the carbon stock in forests develop, in trees, litter, dead wood and soil?
- What is the optimal forest management to both counteract climate change and to adapt to a changed climate?
We disseminate this knowledge - as a basis for a future low-emission society - to both the forest industry, the forest management sections and the general public.
The department collaborates with the Norwegian Environment Agency and Statistics Norway on Norway's inventory report for greenhouse gas emissions under UNFCCC and to ESA in connection to the agreement on climate cooperation with the EU. We are responsible for the LULUCF sector (Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry). This includes responsibility for developing and improving methods and models for calculating emissions and uptake of greenhouse gases from forests and other land use. We also provide national forecasts for the LULUCF-sector. In addition, we work on developing greenhouse gas accounting for municipalities for the sector, as well as various map-based tools that municipalities can use. We also conduct research related to the European Green Deal, and what this means for the LULUCF-sector.
The department is responsible for the national soil carbon monitoring in forests and pastures. This program aims to map the size and changes in the carbon stock in forests and pastures at the national level. We also have several research projects related to soil carbon in forests, and work on modeling changes in soil carbon.
We also have a focus on REDD+ in several African countries, with a focus on developing more sustainable management of forest resources, and good systems for monitoring the uptake and emissions of greenhouse gases.
The Laboratory for Inorganic Chemistry is also the department's responsibility. Here, carbon and nitrogen analyses as well as inorganic analyses of nutrients in water, plants and soil are carried out in close cooperation with the institute's researchers.
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