The international EU-funded SIBERIA project (1998-2000) aimed at the production of an extensive forest map using spaceborne SAR data acquired by the ERS and JERS, satellites. For a large geographical region (900.000 km(2)) located in the Central Siberian Plateau, one-day ERS coherence and JERS backscatter were used to retrieve growing stock volume. A classification algorithm based on peaks in the coherence and backscatter histograms was used. Four volume classes, water and open land were considered. An independent test in 10 areas showed an accuracy above 80%. The produced forest map serves as a tool for the sustainable management of Siberian natural resources and for a better understanding of the role of boreal forests in climate change. The objective of the international EU-funded SIBERIA-II project (2002-2005) is to demonstrate the viability of full carbon accounting, including all greenhouse gasses, with a multi-sensor approach over a 2 million-km2 area in Siberia. Having recently started, a general overview of the aims and the objectives of the project is given. Using several satellite observations available and the SIBERIA database, the first step consists in the generation of several Earth Observation (EO) products (such as biomass, phenological parameters, soil moisture, snow cover etc). Together with land-cover information from local institutions, these products will be input to two dynamic vegetation models for full regional carbon accounting. To increase knowledge, additional products such as Afforestation-Reforestafion-Deforestation and fire scars maps are planned.