Afforestation of former arable land is currently a common change in land use in many European countries. In addition to wood production, the new forests will provide a variety of environmental services, such as carbon sequestration or improved water quality. At the same time there may be negative impacts, such as reduced groundwater recharge. The contents of the book aims at developed techniques to estimate the environmental impacts, and guidelines and decision support systems (DSS) to enable national and international policy makers, but also forest managers, to maximize the benefits and minimize the adverse effects of afforestation. This book will describe afforestation research and shows the application of the developed decision support system. The results should be applicable throughout northwest Europe and could be extended elsewhere. This book considers three of the most important environmental issues - carbon sequestration in soils and biomass, water surplus and nitrate leaching. The book describes the research to quantify these effects in the field and model them into the future. It will explain how the more detailed models were reduced to "metamodels" suitable for implementation within a real-time management system.

Introduction: Demand for Afforestation Management in North-western Europe.- Carbon Sequestration in Soil and Biomass Following Afforestation: Experiences from Oak and Norway Spruce Chronosequences in Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands.- Interception and Water Recharge Following Afforestation: Experiences from Oak and Norway Spruce Chronosequences in Denmark, Sweden and The Netherlands.- Nitrogen Deposition and Nitrate Leaching Following Afforestation: Experiences from Oak and Norway Spruce Chronosequences in Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands.- Modelling the Nitrogen Deposition to Afforested Systems.- Effects of Light and N Availability in Forests on Plant Species Diversity in the Field Layer: A Plant Ecological and Modelling Approach.- Modelling the Afforested System: The Forest/Tree Model.- Modelling the Afforested System: The Soil and Water Compartment.- Metafore: The Afforest Deposition-Soil-Water-Vegetation Metamodel.- Support of Decisions on Afforestation in North-Western Europe with the AFFOREST-sDSS.- Guidelines for Planning Afforestation of Former Arable Land.- The Lessons Learned from Afforest - a Synthesis.