"Terrestrial carbon" refers to carbon contained in terrestrial vegetation or soil stocks and the fluxes from or to the atmosphere through which it participates in the global carbon cycle. Carbon plays an important role in sustaining agricultural productivity, biodiversity, and forest ecosystems processes. It is one of the essential ingredients to producing sufficient food, fodder, and forest products that are so important to the economies of lower income countries. This report is a comprehensive plan to use "in situ" and satellite observing systems to asses and monitor carbon stockson land and in the atmosphere.