Photo: Pétur Halldórsson
Photo: Pétur Halldórsson

A new Report, Forest Reference Level 2021-2025: Iceland, has been issued by the Icelandic Forest Service. This report is in accordance with Decision of the European Economic Area Joint Committee, No 269/2019 of 25 October 2019 which is in accordance with Article 8 of European Union Regulation No 2018/841, as incorporated into the EEA Agreement.

The report gives a description of the accounting for greenhouse gasses related to forest and forestry. The perspective on sustainable forest management is described by forest regulations and policies.

The main product is the Forest Reference Level, based on the requirements given in the Regulation (EU) No 2018/841 and based on the available data. The Forest Reference Level is hereby a prediction of the expected emissions/uptake by the forests of Iceland in the period 2021-2025, based on the data from a reference period 2000-2009. This will subsequently be utilized as baseline (reference level) for the Icelandic accounting for land afforested for more than 50 years.

The report is produced by the Icelandic Forest Research, the research division of the Icelandic Forest Service, the official institute of forest and forestry under The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. Final version by 9th of October 2020.

Text: Arnór Snorrason