Vol. 51 (1), 2009: 12-15

FOLIA FORESTALIA POLONICA
Series A - Forestry, 2009, Vol. 51(1), 12–15.

Rural forested areas as an only background for regional carbon and environmental balance
Alexander Alekseev
Saint-Petersburg State Forest Technical Academy, Institutsky per. 5, 194021, St. Petersburg, Russia, tel.: +7 (812) 550-08-35, fax: +7 (812) 550-07-91, e-mail: ftacademy@home.ru

Abstract
Techno systems release CO2 meanwhile natural ecosystems accumulate it in biomass and these flows for total techno-ecosystem stability should be in quantitative balance. General environmental stability (GES) may be described as ratio of total amount of carbon sequestered (TACS) annually by forested area of region to total amount of carbon (TACR) released on the same area from industrial sources. For Leningrad region this ratio is estimated as much as 1.15 and we may generally conclude about enough productivity of local forest ecosystems to accumulate locally released anthropogenic carbon and therefore about positive input of Leningrad region into global carbon cycle.

Key words
forested area, carbon sequestration, gross primary production, net primary production, respiration.