The greenhouse effects and the carbon cycle, in particular carbon emissions and carbon sequestration, are at the heart of climate change, one of the most pressing challenges the earth is facing. Global institutions like the UNFCCC, and IPCC all address these challenges, resulting in initiatives to reduce carbon emissions, such as Kyoto protocol.
This establishes an explicit link with the International Environmental Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals.
For identification and development of policy instruments in order to handle the impacts of the foreseeable changes in the carbon cycle, accurate quantification of the various components in the carbon cycle forms a core need. Moreover, for the mitigation of adverse climate effects and, in the end, sustainability of livelihoods in many parts of the earth sound assessment and monitoring tools are required.
Within the carbon cycle, forestry in the broad sense forms the principal scientific area for research including, stocks emissions (sources) and sequestration (sinks). Afforestation, reforestation and deforestation are the current Kyoto focal areas, but sustainable forest management, including certification, and the assessment and prevention of forest degradation are also considered in the so-called post-Kyoto period. Due to size, inaccessibility of the forest resources, and international requirements for a uniform methodology of Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV), quantification of the carbon cycle components in both space and time leans heavily on remote sensing, GIS modelling and related statistical tools.