Global climate change is strongly linked to the accumulation of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), in the atmosphere. Trees have the potential to capture CO2 and store it for long time periods; therefore afforestation was recommended as a viable option for the reduction of atmospheric CO2 by the Kyoto protocol.

The EU-funded NITFOR project aimed to answer key questions on the fate of carbon in forests by taking advantage of existing afforestation experiments and combining new stable isotope methods and innovative approaches.

This periodic report provides an overview of the project objectives, implemented methodologies and major achievements. Moreover, the specific progress of the reporting period is summarised, along with the undertaken dissemination activities.