17 2 Ecosystem Services Related to Carbon Dynamics: Its Evaluation Using Remote Sensing Techniques J. M. Paruelo and M. Vallejos University of Buenos Aires, Argentina 2.1 Introduction Policies aimed at integrating social, economic, and environmental dimen- sions of sustainability have to explicitly consider evaluating the inluence of human activities on the provision of ecosystem services (ESs). The decision-making process for land use planning requires ES inventory along with an estimation of the ES provision rates and the effects of related human activities. ESs are commonly evaluated on the basis of indicators that do not provide a proper representation of the whole territory and/or do not capture CONTENTS 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 17 2.2 The Carbon Cycle: Key Processes .............................................................. 18 2.3 Conceptual Frameworks to Connect Carbon Dynamics and ESs ........ 19 2.3.1 Production Functions to Link Intermediate to Final ESs........... 19 2.3.2 Impact Functions to Link Disturbances or Stress Factors with ES Provision............................................................................. 21 2.4 Scale Issues in the Evaluation of Carbon-Related ESs ............................ 22 2.5 Which Intermediate Services Should Be Monitored? ............................. 23 2.5.1 NPP Estimations .............................................................................. 24 2.5.2 AGB Estimations .............................................................................. 27 2.5.3 Carbon and Energy Released by Wildires .................................. 30 2.6 Concluding Remarks ................................................................................... 31 Acknowledgments ................................................................................................ 31 References............................................................................................................... 32