SSS9.11
Forests play a pivotal role in the global carbon cycle by storing about half of the world's organic carbon. In most climatic regions, the organic carbon stocks in soil exceed those in plant biomass. In this context, forest management contributes to climate change mitigation by affecting soil processes and functioning, and consequently, carbon sequestration.
Comprehensive understanding how forest management affects soil processes is urgently needed. Significant knowledge gaps still remain concerning the effect of forest management on soil carbon balances and greenhouse gas exchanges. Furthermore, the effectiveness of climate-smart forestry practices relies on both management characteristics such as the level of management intensity and the recovery time after management as well as site-specific conditions as for example the soil type, soil physical, chemical, and biological characteristics and conditions, topography, vegetation composition, and climatic factors. In addition, there is a lack of consistency in the way that different forest management practices can prevent the soil carbon loss after natural disturbances. Finally, the effects of forest management on soil are not yet comprehensively integrated into modelling tools for decision-making, which could potentially lead to neglecting these effects when formulating policies to achieve carbon neutrality objectives.
This session invites experimental and modelling contributions from forests around the world on exploring the current understanding of the effects of forest management on soil carbon sequestration and other processes to develop effective forest-based climate change mitigation strategies.
Specific topics include, but are not limited to:
1) Advance knowledge concerning the effects of forest management on soil carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas balances, biodiversity, nutrient stocks, organic matter quality, water resources, and stabilisation processes.
2) Enhancing comprehension of the impacts of natural disturbances and preventing forest management on soil functioning and resilience.
3) Improve understanding of modelling on the potential of forest management to mitigate climate change.