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Abstract

The forestry sector holds considerable potential to mitigate the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Intensive research efforts have been undertaken in the last few years to better investigate different mitigation strategies and to develop a methodology to compare and evaluate alternative management options in terms of their net carbon benefits. Nevertheless, the progress in implementing forest mitigation measures has been rather slow in the past.

After summarizing selected estimates of the potentials of different mitigation options, this paper focuses on the implementation of carbon mitigation measures. Experiences from various forestry projects are analysed in search of possible strategies that could help to make the implementation of forest sector mitigation options more successful. It is argued that forestry projects should be more people-oriented and that they need to be integrated into multi-sectoral land-use strategies. The concept of Joint Implementation could potentially stimulate carbon mitigation efforts, however strong political commitment is needed to realize ambitious global mitigation programmes.