The Greenhouse Gas Balance of Italy: A Synthesis - The Greenhouse Gas Balance of Italy - page 7

The total carbon fixed in the Italian natural ecosystems through the process
of photosynthesis, expressed as GPP, can be assumed of 233 millions of tons of
Carbon (Mt C), of which 62.3 Mt C represents the total Italian net carbon sink,
expressed as NEE (Table 1.1 ).
A considerable amount of national carbon budget of natural ecosystems is repre-
sented by the Net Primary Production (NPP) of Italian forests, with a total of 15.37-
16.51 millions of tons of Carbon per year (Mt C y − 1 ) fixed in the above and below
ground biomass of forest trees and 26.72 (5.34)-40.08 (8.02) Mt C y − 1 ) if con-
sidering all carbon pools including litter, dead wood and forest soils (Table 1.2 ).
Another considerable amount of carbon contained in natural ecosystems is rep-
resented by the soil carbon (SOC) stock of Italian croplands. The SOC stock in the
upper 30 cm of Italian agricultural soils has been assessed of about 489 (148.2)
Mt C in 2007 and is projected for 2020 = 470.5 Mt C, with no mitigation options
(Table 1.3 ).
Others values of carbon stock and fluxes are reported in the Table 1.4 related to
specific local case studies of the Italian territory.
As reported in Table 1.5 , a fraction of the total Net Ecosystem Production
(NEP) of the Italian forest ecosystems is lost as reduced carbon and transformed
to BVOCs emissions assessed for 2006 = 41.2 Gg y − 1 of Monoterpene emissions
and to 31.7 Gg y − 1 of Isoprene emissions. The BVOCs emissions from the Italian
forest ecosystems in 2006. The loss of NEP from the Italian forest ecosystems as
Biogenic Volatile Organic Compound emissions is estimated of about 3-4 %.
Moreover, another relevant annual loss of NEP of the Italian forest ecosystems
is represented by the carbon emissions due to wood removals (Table 1.6 ).
The two most important non CO 2 greenhouse gases (GHG) exchanged with the
atmosphere in Italian agricultural soils are the nitrous oxides (N 2 O) and methane (CH 4 ).

Table 1.5 Total Italian Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (BVOCs) emissions from the
Italian forest ecosystems in 2006
Parameters Total emissions of

BVOCs (Gg y

Comments

− 1 )

− 1 ), sabinene

of which: ʱ -pinene (9.10 Gg y Monoterpene

emissions

41.2

− 1 )
Limonene, myrcene, trans - and cis -beta ocimene,
linalool, 1-8 cineol, camphene, ʲ -phellandrene
and terpinolene contributed for the rest of the
emission (Chap. 3 )

− 1 ) and ʲ -pinene (3.37 Gg y

(4.34 Gg y

31.7

Isoprene emissions

Table 1.6 Annual loss of NEP as carbon emissions due to wood removal from Italian forests
Parameters Total emissions (Mt CO 2 ) Comments

6 Statistical data approach

(Chap. 7 )

Annual carbon loss due to wood
removal in Italy

Annual emission of hwp 0.92 Production approach

(Chap. 7 )