Category |
Definition |
Carbon in above-ground biomass |
Carbon in all living biomass above the soil, including stem, stump, branches, bark, seeds, and foliage. |
Carbon in below-ground biomass |
Carbon in all living biomass of live roots. Fine roots of less than 2 mm diameter are excluded, because these often cannot be distinguished empirically from soil organic matter or litter. |
Carbon in dead wood biomass |
Carbon in all non-living woody biomass not contained in the litter, either standing, lying on the ground, or in the soil. Dead wood includes wood lying on the surface, dead roots, and stumps larger than or equal to 10 cm in diameter or any other diameter used by the country. |
Carbon in litter |
Carbon in all non-living biomass with a diameter less than a minimum diameter chose by the country for lying dead (for example 10 cm), in various states of decomposition above the mineral or organic soil. This includes the litter, fumic, and humic layers. |
Soil carbon |
Organic carbon in mineral and organic soils (including peat) to a specified depth chosen by the country and applied consistently through the time series. |
References to sources of information |
Quality (H/M/L) |
Variable(s) |
Year(s) |
Additional comments |
Ministero dell’Agricoltura e delle Foreste-ISAFA. 1988. Inventario Forestale Nazionale. Sintesi metodologica e risultati. |
H |
Used to estimate: Forest carbon |
1985 |
|
IPCC. 2000. Land use, land use change and forestry. A special report. Cambridge., UK, Cambridge University Press. |
M |
Soil carbon |
2000 |
used to estimate carbon in soil |
No definitions were available.
Forest carbon data were estimated using biomass data (as coming from T7) multiplied by the default conversion factor of 0.5.
Concerning the carbon in litter, the IPCC Good Practice Guidance value was applied and, for Italy’s case, the following data were considered:
Default values for litter carbon stocks of mature forests (t/ha) | ||
Climate |
Broadleaf |
Needle leaf |
Warm temperate moist |
13 |
22 |
Forest type10 |
Carbon (t/ha) |
1990 |
2000 |
2005 |
Broadleaf |
13 |
6 228 463 |
6 965 637 |
7 334 863 |
Needle leaf |
22 |
1 557 116 |
1 741 409 |
1 833 716 |
Total forest area |
7 785 579 |
8 707 046 |
9 168 579 | |
Total carbon (t) |
115 226 569 |
126 864 281 |
135 694 969 |
The carbon in the soil was estimated using the IPCC figures given by the FRA 2000 Main Report, which allowed calculating a rough estimate of the total carbon in soil. It was not possible to follow the FRA Guidelines and use the IPCC Good Practice Guidance to estimate carbon in soil because of the incompatibility between the soil classification systems (IPCC system and National system).
Biome |
Global carbon stocks in 1m of soil (Million t C) |
Area (Million ha) |
t/ha |
Temperate forests |
100 000 |
1 040 |
96 |
Source IPCC 2000
No calibration was necessary
Estimates for 1990, 2000 and forecasting for 2005 were calculated assuming that Carbon per hectare was constant throughout the years and multiplying the mean value by the 1990, 2000 and 2005 forest area resulting from T1.
Reclassification is not necessary since the amount of carbon was estimated and calculated following the FRA 2005 definitions.
FRA 2005 Categories |
Carbon (Million metric tonnes) | |||||
Forest |
Other wooded land | |||||
|
1990 |
2000 |
2005 |
1990 |
2000 |
2005 |
Carbon in above-ground biomass |
396 |
443 |
467 |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
Carbon in below-ground biomass |
87 |
98 |
103 |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
Sub-total: Carbon in living biomass |
484 |
540 |
641 |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
Carbon in dead wood |
142 |
159 |
167 |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
Carbon in litter |
115 |
127 |
136 |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
Sub-total: Carbon in dead wood and litter |
257 |
286 |
303 |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
Soil carbon to a depth of 100 cm |
749 |
837 |
882 |
n.a. | ||
TOTAL CARBON |
1 490 |
1 663 |
1 826 |
|
|
|
10 It was assumed that 80% of the forest area is composed by broadleaves species and 20% by coniferous species (according to the TBFRA 2000 data).
