Aim of the study: To review and acknowledge the value of carbon sequestration by forest management in the Mediterranean area.Material and methods: We review the main effects of forest management by comparing the effects of silvicultural systems (even-aged vs. uneven-aged stands, coppice systems, agroforestry systems), silvicultural options (thinning, rotation period, species composition), afforestation, harvesting, fire impact or effects of shrub layer on carbon sequestration in the Mediterranean area.Main results: We illustrate as forest management can clearly improve forest carbon sequestration amounts. We conclude that forest management is an effective way to maintain and enhance high carbon sequestration rates in order to cope with climate change and provision of ecosystem services. We also think that although much effort has been put into this topic research, there are still certain gaps that must be dealt with to increase our scientific knowledge and in turn transfer this knowledge to forest practitioners in order to achieve sustainable management aimed at mitigating climate change.Research highlights: It is important to underline the importance of forests in the carbon cycle as this role can be enhanced by forest managers through sustainable forest management. The effects of different management options or disturbances can be critical as regards mitigating climate change. Understanding the effects of forest management is even more important in the Mediterranean area, given that the current high climatic variability together with historical human exploitation and disturbance events make this area more vulnerable to the effects of climate change

Aim of the study: To develop a site index model for Quercus faginea Lam. stands.Area of study: SpainMaterial and Methods: Data from 81 growth series collected in plots where Q. faginea was the main species were used for modelling. Different generalized algebraic difference equations (GADA) were fitted from traditionally used models. Richards model was selected and used to expand the parameters with environmental variables.Research highlights: Winter rainfall (WR), annual potential evapotranspiration (PET) and pH were introduced increasing the prediction ability of the GADA. It is strongly recommended to apply the model with ages lower than 80 years because the lack of data above that age makes bias increase and efficiency decrease.Keywords: Site index; Lusitanian oak; environmental variables.

While the Mediterranean basin is foreseen to be highly affected by climate change (CC) and severe forest fires are expected to be more frequent, international efforts to fight against CC do not consider forest fires’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions risk and the possibility of its mitigation. This is partly due to a lack of a methodology for GHG risk spatial assessment and consideration of the high value of carbon stocks in forest ecosystems and their intrinsic risk. To revert this, an innovative GHG emission risk model has been developed and implemented in a pilot forest area. This model considers geospatial variables to build up emission vulnerability based on potential fire severity and resistance of a landscape, value at risk and the hazard of a fire occurrence. The results classify low, moderate and high emission risks in the analysed areas. This identification of hotspots allows the prioritisation of fire prevention measures in a region to maximise the reduction of GHG emissions in the case of a fire event. This constitutes the first step in a holistic and consistent CC mitigation that not only considers anthropic GHG sources but also possible GHG emissions by forest fires that can be actively prevented, managed and reduced.