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EU research looks into Europe's carbon sinks - Media Briefing - 18 October 2002 -Valencia (E)

October 16, 2002

Are European forests, soil and grass the dustbins for carbon dioxide (CO2)? On 18 October 2002 the European Commission will present the CarboEurope research initiative in Valencia (Spain). It is a cluster of 15 research projects supported by the European Commission with a budget of EUR25 Million. The project brings together around 160 research institutions from over 20 countries. It looks at whether the biosphere, and above all forests, can reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the principal cause of climate warming. Earth's biosphere may absorb more carbon than it releases. European forests could therefore be huge carbon sinks. CarboEurope's preliminary results point to a CO2 absorption rate of up to 30% of EU annual industrial emissions.

According to the EU Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin: "Through the CarboEurope initiative, our best scientists across Europe are working together to be able to better quantify the capacity of forests to stock carbon. This is particularly important if we want to be able to meet the stringent Kyoto Protocol targets for CO2 reduction. This issue is on the international agenda, in view of the Kyoto follow-up meeting in New Dehli . Over the next four years, the EU will devote EUR700 million to support research on global change and ecosystems. More research will help the EU promote its sustainable development agenda on the world stage."

CarboEurope is a cluster of 15 research projects supported by the European Commission with 25 Mill. EUR, associating around 160 research institutions from more than 20 countries. This research project did demonstrate that the European biosphere is absorbing CO2 equivalent to 10-30% of the annual industrial emissions; but it is also pointing to the risk that the biosphere loses the sink capacity in a changing climate. There is now experimental evidence underpinning model projections that seasonal rain forest in Eastern Amazonia might lose their carbon sink capacity in a changing (dryer) climate. Carbon sink could in so far turn into a source of carbon production.

In this context, sustainable forest management will play a key role to protect and enhance the carbon stocks and to mitigate climate change. The project has shown that semi-natural forests with high bio-diversity and a different age class structure serves this purpose best. In addition, it also found that old pristine forests still take up carbon and that the protection of these forests should receive high priority in order to protect the large carbon stocks.

In its final stage CarboEurope will be able to measure and verify the Kyoto signal, the CO2 reduction in the atmosphere as committed by the Parties. This will be achieved through a concept based on ground based ecosystem and atmospheric (local) measurements, regional and continental aircraft measurements integrated and synthesised in a modelling and data assimilation framework.

CarboEurope is the world's first successful effort in action in which a coherent, comprehensive integration of terrestrial and atmospheric carbon sciences has been realised at continental scale. The cluster is now regarded as a "template" for world research on the carbon cycle. The US, Japan and China plan to launch similar initiatives.

The special one-day media briefing in Valencia (E) on 18 October, will provide a unique insight into research activities being undertaken to meet Europe's climate change targets, particularly focusing on carbon sinks. Further to presentations of the EC CarboEurope cluster of projects by researchers, the programme includes on-site demonstrations of the measuring tools, from planes and towers to tree leaves and soil testing instruments.

The press briefing will be held IN Valencia (E) at EUPHORE, the biggest photoreactor in the world.

Web: http://www.bgc-jena.mpg.de/public/carboeur/

For further information concerning the projects presented, please contact:
Claus Bruening
Scientific officer, Global Change Unit
Environment Programme
Research DG
Telephone: +32 2 295 44 84        
E-mail: claus.bruning@cec.eu.int

For further information concerning the press event, please contact:
Julia Acevedo        
Press and information officer
Research DG
Telephone: +32 2 295 20 43        
Fax: +32 2 295 82 20
E-mail: julia.acevedo-bueno@cec.eu.int

Spokesman for Commissioner Busquin:
Fabbio Fabbi, Spokesperson for Research and development, Press DG
Telephone: +32 2 296 41 74 - Fax: +32 (0) 2 296 30 03
E-mail: fabio.fabbi@cec.eu.int

CARBOEUROPE

Friday October 18, 2002 - Valencia (Spain)
EUPHORE -Fundaci'³n Centro de Estudios Ambientales del Mediterr'¡neo (CEAM)

DRAFT AGENDA
                

Chairman
J. Rosenbaum
European Commission, Research DG, Head of Unit, Information and Communication
10:30        Welcome and short introduction of the venue (EUPHORE smog chamber)
M. Mill'¡n
Director, CEAM (Spain)
10:35        Why CARBOEUROPE?
        A. Ghazi
        European Commission, Research DG, Head of Unit, Global change
10:45           Video Presentation
10:55         CARBOEUROPE research cluster: An outstanding European research initiative
                  Presentation: H. Dolman Free University of Amsterdam, (The Netherlands)        

11:15                            Coffee Break
        
11:50         CarboEurope: Can forest mitigate climate change?
Presentation: R. Valentini
University of Tuscia (Italy)
12:10        Conclusions
C. Patermann
European Commission, Research DG, Director, Environment Programme
12:20        Discussion

12 : 30                                     Lunch Buffet

13:30        Visit of EUPHORE photo reactor and ultra light research aircraft "Sky Arrow" at CEAM
14:00        Departure by bus for the case visit at "EL SALER"
14:30        Arrival to the flux tower station in "EL SALER"
16.30        End of the programme & transport by bus to Valencia international Airport
Annex

CarboEurope Chairman: Han Dolman; Geo-Environmental Science Faculty of Earth and Life Science; Vrije Universiteit De Boelelann 10851081 HV Amsterdam, NL
Tel.: +31 20 4447358; Fax: +31 204449940 e-mail: dola@geo.vu.nl

CarboEurope Project Office : Annette Freibauer; Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Carl-Zeiss-Promenade 1a, Postfach 100164 D-07701, Jena, Germany
Tel. +49 3641 686726; Fax +49 3641 686710 e-mail: afreib@bgc-jena.mpg.de

About CarboEurope cluster

Problems to be solved:

The cluster is designed to better understand, quantify and predict under future and current scenarios the European carbon balance from local ecosystem to regional and continental scale. The results will support policy-makers and authorities responsible for negotiation and implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. Carbon inventories will be harmonised at European scale. It also addresses possible incentives of the Kyoto Protocol that may conflict with those of the bio-diversity convention, such as the creation of plantations with high production levels but with attendant bio-diversity loss.

Objectives and approach:

The aims are to advance understanding of carbon fixation mechanisms and to quantify the magnitude of the carbon sources/sinks for a range of European terrestrial ecosystems and how these may be constrained by climate variability, availability of nutrients, changing rates of nitrogen deposition and interaction with management regimes. Conventional ecosystem inventories will be harmonised at European level. Regional programmes in the Amazon area and Siberia complement research focusing on European ecosystem.

The methodology is based on the assumption that adequate monitoring in the context of the Kyoto Protocol requires above all an understanding of ecosystems from stand scale, at national to global scale. CarboEurope has chosen a dual constraint approach to better quantify the European sink strength and its inter-annual variation by combining conventional carbon inventory data and atmospheric measurements (tropospheric CO2 concentration and CO2 fluxes above the vegetation surface). The data are integrated through ecosystem and atmospheric models and synthesised in an advanced data assimilation system.

The cluster is based on a network of 28 European test sites for in situ measurement of carbon and energy fluxes in boreal, temperate and Mediterranean forests and 2 wetland sites. A similar programme is carried out for the Amazon and Siberia but at smaller scale. The forest network is accompanied by 9 agriculture test sites across Europe focusing on greenhouse gas emissions from grassland. Ground based CO2 measurements of carbon will be accompanied by an aircraft monitoring programme on European scale to determine the interplay of anthropogenic emissions and ecosystem behaviour. Finally, atmospheric and ecosystems models will be used to integrate individual measurements and conventional ecosystem inventories. Synthesis across time and space is done through an advanced data assimilation system.

Expected impact:

The cluster will provide input to the decision making process during negotiation and implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. It will provide data on the carbon source/sink strength of European terrestrial ecosystems on continental and regional scale and reduce the uncertainties. Furthermore, the development of an independent carbon verification tool will help the EU member states to fulfil their Kyoto commitments. Methodology could be used to monitor carbon balance in other regions of the world.

RESEARCH PROJECTS OF CARBOEUROPE CLUSTER

The CarboEurope project cluster is composed by the following 15 projects:

AEROCARB, CAMELS, CHIOTTO, CARBO-AGE, CARBEUROPE acc., CARBOEUROPE GHG, CARBODATA, CARBOEUROFLUX, CARBOINVENT, CARBOBSINK-LBA, FORCAST, GREENGRASS, RECARB, TACOS, TCOS

Airbone European Regional Observation of the Carbon Balance (AEROCARB)
13 partners from 8 countries (FR, NL, CH, DE, IT, HU, UK, DK)
Co-ordinator :   Philippe Ciais
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l`Environnement
Avenue de la Terrasse
91198 Gif sur Yvette, France
Tel.:        33 1 69 08 95 06
e-mail:        ciais@lsce.saclay.cea.fr

Terrestrial and Atmospheric Carbon Observing System Infrastructure (TACOS)
7 Partners from 4 countries (FR, IT, DE, NL)
Co-ordinator :   Philippe Ciais
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l`Environnement
Avenue de la Terrasse
91198 Gif sur Yvette, France
Tel.:        33 1 69 08 95 06
e-mail:        ciais@lsce.saclay.cea.fr

Carbon Assimilation and Modelling of the European Land Surface (CAMELS)
9 partners from 6 contries and JRC (UK, FR, DE, NL, IT, FI)
Co-ordinator : Peter Cox
Met Office
Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research
London Road
RG12 2SY Bracknell, United Kingdom
Tel:        44 1344 856910
Fax:        44 1344 854898
e-mail:        Peter.Cox@metoffice.com

AGE-RELATED DYNAMICS OF CARBON EXCHANGE IN EUROPEAN FORESTS. INTEGRATING NET ECOSYSTEM PRODUCTIVITY IN SPACE AND TIME (CARBO-AGE)
5 partners from 5 countries (UK, IT, FI, SE, FR)
Co-ordinator:   John Grace
University of Edinburgh
Inst. of Ecology & Resource Management
Darwin Building, Mayfield Road
EH9 3JU EDINBURGH, United Kingdom
Tel:        44 131 650 5400
Fax:        44 131 662 0478
e-mail:        jgrace@ed.ac.uk

An investigation on Carbon and Energy exchanges of terrestrial ecosystems in Europe (CARBOEUROFLUX)
19 partners from 12 countries (IT, SE, DE CZ, FR, BE, FI, UK, DK, NL, PT, IL)
Co-ordinator:   Riccardo Valentini
University of Tuscia
Department of Forest Science and Environment
Via San Camillo de Lellis
01100 Viterbo, Italy
Tel.:        39 0761 357394
Fax:        39 0761 357389
e-mail:         rik@unitus.it

Carbon balance estimates and resource management support with Data from project networks implemented art European continental scale (CARBODATA)
5 partners from 3 countries (IT, DE, FR)
Co-ordinator:   Riccardo Valentini
University of Tuscia
Department of Forest Science and Environment
Via San Camillo de Lellis
01100 Viterbo, Italy
Tel.:        39 0761 357394
Fax:        39 0761 357389
e-mail:         rik@unitus.it

Concerted Action : Synthesis of the European Greenhouse Gas Budget (CARBOEUROPE GHG)
13 partner and members from 8 countries (IT, FI, UK, SE, FR, NO, DE, NL)
Co-ordinator:   Riccardo Valentini
University of Tuscia
Department of Forest Science and Environment
Via San Camillo de Lellis
01100 Viterbo, Italy
Tel.:        39 0761 357394
Fax:        39 0761 357389
e-mail:         rik@unitus.it

Multi-source inventory methods for quantifying carbon stocks and stock changes in European forests (CARBOINVENT)
14 partners from 9 countries and JRC (AU, FI, IRL, SZ, DE, HU, BE, ES, IT)
Co-ordinator:   Bernhard Schlamadinger
Joanneum Research
Institute of Energy Research
Elisabethstrasse 5
8010 Graz, Austria
Tel:        43 316 8761340
Fax:        43 316 8761320
e-mail:        bernhard.schlamadinger@joanneum.ac.at

The future of the tropical forest Carbon Sink (CARBONSINK-LBA)
14 partners from 7 countries (NL, UK, DE, IT, FR, PT, Brazil)
Co-ordinator:   Pavel Kabat
ALTERRA Green World Research (formerly SC-DLO)
Department of Water & Environment
Droevendaalsesteeg 3,
Bldg. 101, P.O. Box 125
6700 AC, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Tel.:        31 317 474314 / 474299 (office)
Fax:         31 317 424812
e-mail:        p.kabat@alterra.wag-ur.nl

Continuous HIgh-precisiOn Tall Tower Observations of greenhouse gases (CHIOTTO)
9 partners from 7 countries ( NL, FR, DE, HU, UK, IT, SE)
Co-ordinator:   Alex Vermeulen
Energy Research Centre forThe Netherlands
Unit Ecn Clean Fossil Fuels
Westerduinweg 3
1755 ZG Petten, The Netherlands
Tel:        31 224 564194
Fax:        31 224 568488
Email:        a.vermeulen@ecn.nl

Forest Carbon Nitrogen Transactions (FORCAST)
17 partners from 8 countries (DE, IT, SE, FR, UK, CZ, DK, NL)
Co-ordinator:   Ernst-Detlef Schulze
Max-Planck-Institut fuer Biogeochemie
Postfach 100164
Carl-Zeiss Promenade 10
07701 Jena, Germany
Tel.:        49 3641 643702
Fax:         49 3641 643794
e-mail: detlef.schulze@bgc-jena.mpg.de

Coordination and dissemination of carbon research results in light of the implementation of Kyoto Protocol in Europe (CARBOEUROPE acc)
5 partners from 5 countries (DE, IT, UK, NL, FR)
Co-ordinator:   Ernst-Detlef Schulze
Max-Planck-Institut fuer Biogeochemie
Postfach 100164
Carl-Zeiss Promenade 10
07701 Jena, Germany
Tel.:        49 3641 643702
Fax:         49 3641 643794
e-mail: detlef.schulze@bgc-jena.mpg.de

Sources and sinks of greenhouse gases from managed European grasslands and mitigation strategies (GREENGRASS)
18 partners from 8 countries (FR, NL, DK, UK, IRL, CH, HU, IT)
Co-ordinator:   Jean-Fran'§ois Soussana
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique
Centre de Clermont-Theix-Lyon
Avenue du Brézet, 234
63039 Clermont-Ferrand, Cédex 2, France
Tel:        33 473 624423
Fax:        33 473 624457
e-mail:        soussana@clermont.inra.fr

Regional Assessment and Modelling of the Carbon Balance within Europe (RECAB)
10 partners from 7 countries ( NL, IT, DE, ES, SE, FR)
Co-ordinator:   Ronald Hutjes
ALTERRA
P.O. Box 47
6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Tel.:        31 317 474744
Fax:        31 317 419000
e-mail: r.w.a.hutjes@alterra.wag-ur.nl

Terrestrial Carbon Observing System - Siberia (TCOS)
11 partner from 5 countries (DE, FR, NL, IT, RU)
Co-ordinator:   Martin Heimann
Max-Planck-Institut fuer Biogeochemie
Postfach 100164
Carl-Zeiss Promenade 10
07701 Jena, Germany
Tel.:        49 3641 64 686 720/686 701
Fax:        49 3641 64- 686 710
e-mail:         martin.heimann@bgc-jena.mpg.de
web:    http://www.bgc-jena.mpg.de/~martin.heimann

ANNEX: CARBOEUROPE project cluster, information on budget

Acronym        N° of partners        EU-contribution EUR           Total costs EUR
CARBONSINK-LBA        13        2.060.000        2.788.000
CARBOEUROFLUX        19        2.559.000        3.960.000
RECAB        10        1.651.000        2.623.000
FORCAST        17        2.807.000        3.185.000
CARBO-AGE        5        1.098.000        1.379.000
CARBODATA                       5        675.000        887.000
AEROCARB                           13        2.047.000        3.062.000
CARBOEUROPE acc        5        297.000        297.000
TCOS        11        2.486.000        2.954.000
GREENGRASS        18        2.411.000        4.361.000
TACOS-Infrastrcture        7        1.469.000        2.133.000
CARBOINVENT*        14        1.813.000        2.712.000
CHIOTTO*        9        1.598.000        2.156.000
CAMELS*        9        1.400.000        2.299.000
CARBOEUROPE GHG*        13        1.257.000        1.257.000
Total        168        25.628.000        36.133.000
*negotiation finalised, project start expeted in Nov. 2002

European Commission, Research Directorate