Abstract:

Increasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas concentration in atmosphere have resulted in global warming that threats sustainable development of human beings. International communities are taking action plans aiming to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and to stabilize carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. Forests and forestry activities play a significant role in these actions. Atmospheric carbon dioxide can be sequestered through tree growth and as a result forest ecosystems play as an important carbon pool and carbon sink in terrestrial and atmospheric carbon exchanges. Carbon sequestration by growing forests has been shown to be a cost-effective option for mitigation of global climatic change. On the other hand, deforestation, especially in the tropics, behind fossil fuel burning, was believed to be the second largest source of rising atmospheric CO₂ concentration. Therefore, such forestry activities as afforestation, reforestation, forest management, deforestation avoiding and so on are believed to be effective ways to enhance terrestrial carbon sinks and protect existing carbon pools. Wood products can also be used either directly as fuels or as substitutes for energy-consuming products (steel, cement, etc.) and at the end reduce greenhouse gas emission in energy production and industrial process. We reviewed global and China's forest ecosystems in relations to global carbon cycle, and discussed potentials of forestry activities in the mitigation of greenhouse gas emission.

Key words: forest, forestry activities, greenhouse gas, emission mitigation, sink enhancement