Biogeophysical climate impacts of forest management in Switzerland

Forests influence climate through biogeochemical and biogeophysical processes. Biogeochemical processes include greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange as well as emissions of other chemical compounds such as biogenic volatile organic compounds, which can act as aerosol precursors. The biogeophysical effect, on the other hand, refer to the alteration of land properties such as albedo, evapotranspiration and surface roughness.
The climate impacts of land use activities such as forestry are routinely monitored in terms of GHG emissions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The associated biogeophysical impacts, however, are not accounted for as part of this framework despite the growing awareness that these effects matter regionally and should therefore be considered in the decision-making process. In this report, we synthetizes the current state of knowledge concerning the biogeophysical effect of forestry activities with a special focus on Switzerland. Beside reviewing the existing literature we also present new results for Switzerland based on observation-driven estimates as well as process-based modelling.