Afforestation and Reforestation under the UNFCCC

Transcription

1 Afforestation and Reforestation under the UNFCCC By Jenny L P Wong Adaptation, Technology and Science UNFCCC Secretariat Workshop on pan-european recommendations for afforestation and reforestation in the context for UNFCCC October 24-26,2006 Vilnius, Lithuania

2 Scope of Presentation Reporting requirements of the LULUCF sector under the UNFCCC; namely the Forest Land category Reporting requirements of LULUCF activities under the Kyoto Protocol, namely afforestation and reforestation, and forest management activities LULUCF activities under Joint Implementation (JI) Reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries

3 Enhancement of sinks by forestryrelated land uses and activities Commitments of all Parties to the UNFCCC under Article 4 Paragraph 1(d): Promote sustainable management, and promote and cooperate in the conservation and enhancement, as appropriate, of sinks and reservoirs of all greenhouse gases, not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, including biomass, forests and oceans as well as other terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems;

4 Reporting of the Land Use, Land-use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector under the UNFCCC GHG inventories, including the LULUCF sector reported annually since 1997 Parties report on 6 broad categories of land Forest land, Cropland, Grassland, Wetlands, Settlements and Other land. Inventory covers GHG emissions and removals from managed lands only. Countries use their own definitions of these categories Annex I Parties use the tables of the Common Reporting Format for reporting the LULUCF sector (decision 14/CP.11) for their inventory submissions Annex I Parties should use the IPCC GPG for LULUCF for preparing inventories under UNFCCC, in 2005 and beyond

5 Reporting of the Forest Land category Includes all land with woody vegetation consistent with thresholds used to define forest Parties provide national definitions of forest and sub-categories. Subdivision by activity, management regime, climatic zone and ecosystem type Forest land divided into 2 sub-category: Forest land remaining Forest land and Land converted to forest land Estimation of changes in carbon stock from 5 carbon pools aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, dead wood, litter and soil organic matter Non-CO 2 gases (N 2 O, CH 4 ) reported for forest fertilization, forest fires and drainage of forest soils. CO 2 emissions from liming on forest land also reported

6 Reporting of the Forest Land category Land converted to forest land Conversion of managed land to forest by afforestation and reforestation, either by natural and artificial regeneration (including plantations) Involves a change in land use. Converted areas must correspond to definition of forest adopted by the country Land converted to forest land are followed in conversion status for 20 years (IPCC default value)

7 Reporting LULUCF activities under the Kyoto Protocol Report emissions and removals of CO 2 and other GHG resulting from Article 3.3 activities Afforestation, Reforestation and Deforestation Article 3.4 activities Forest management, Cropland management, Grazing land management and Revegetation Definitions of these activities in annex to decision 16/CMP.1 Information reported is supplementary to that reported under the Convention Parties to report annually during the commitment period. But annual reporting does not imply need for annual measurements

8 Rules for LULUCF activities under the Kyoto Protocol (decision 16/CMP.1) As part of the Marrakesh Accords, a set of rules for LULUCF activities were agreed upon, including: A set of principles to govern LULUCF activities; for example, Treatment of these activities based on sound science That the implementation of LULUCF activities contributes to the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use of natural resources; That accounting excludes removals resulting from: (i) elevated carbon dioxide concentrations above their pre-industrial level; (ii) indirect nitrogen deposition; and (iii) the dynamic effects of age structure resulting from activities and practices before the reference year Definitions for Article 3.3 activities and agreed activities under Article 3.4;

9 LULUCF definitions under the Kyoto Protocol (annex to 16/CMP.1) Forest is a minimum area of land of hectares with tree crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of more than per cent with trees with the potential to reach a minimum height of 2-5 metres at maturity in situ. A forest may consist either of closed forest formations where trees of various storeys and undergrowth cover a high proportion of the ground or open forest. Young natural stands and all plantations which have yet to reach a crown density of per cent or tree height of 2-5 metres are included under forest, as are areas normally forming part of the forest area which are temporarily unstocked as a result of human intervention such as harvesting or natural causes but which are expected to revert to forest;

10 LULUCF definitions under the Kyoto Protocol (annex to 16/CMP.1) Afforestation is the direct human-induced conversion of land that has not been forested for a period of at least 50 years to forested land through planting, seeding and/or the human-induced promotion of natural seed sources Reforestation is the direct human-induced conversion of non-forested land to forested land through planting, seeding and/or the human-induced promotion of natural seed sources, on land that was forested but that has been converted to non-forested land. For the first commitment period, reforestation activities will be limited to reforestation occurring on those lands that did not contain forest on 31 December 1989

11 LULUCF definitions under the Kyoto Protocol (annex to 16/CMP.1) Deforestation is the direct human-induced conversion of forested land to non-forested land Forest management is a system of practices for stewardship and use of forest land aimed at fulfilling relevant ecological (including biological diversity), economic and social functions of the forest in a sustainable manner

12 LULUCF rules (Article 3, paragraph 3 ARD) For the first commitment period, ARD activities at any time between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 2012 are reported Accounting of ARD activities shall begin with the onset of the activity or the beginning of the commitment period, whichever comes later. ARD land areas are allowed to grow to a certain value in 2012 Land cannot leave the Article 3.3 reporting Once land is accounted for under Article 3.3 (also for Article 3.4 activities), all emissions and removals on this land must be accounted for throughout subsequent and contiguous commitment periods. A/R land that is subsequently deforested is reclassified as deforestation land. Deforestation land cannot become A/R land in the first commitment period If a Party s ARD activities result in more emissions than removals, then the Party may offset these emissions through forest management activities, up to a total level of 9 megatons of carbon per year for the five year commitment period.

13 LULUCF rules (Article 3, paragraph 4 Forest management) A Party may choose to account for emissions and removals from forest management under Article 3.4. Upon election, decision fixed for the first commitment period. Forest management can only take place on lands that meet definition of a forest Party shall demonstrate that such activities have occurred since 1990 and are human-induced If emissions by sources and removals by sinks are already accounted for under Art 3.3, Parties cannot account for these under Art 3.4 The extent to which forest management activities can be accounted for to help meet emission targets beyond 9 megatons of carbon per year is subject to an individual cap for each Party, listed in the appendix to 16/CMP.1. This cap includes joint implementation projects involving forest management

14 LULUCF rules (Article 3, paragraph 4 Forest management) Land subjected to forest management as defined by the Marrakesh Accords is not necessarily the same area as managed forests in the context of UNFCCC reporting. Most forest area subject to forest management would also be included in area of managed forest of a Party Includes both natural forests and plantations meeting the forest definition with the parameter values for forests as selected by Party Good practice for Party to provide documentation of how it applies definition of forest management in a consistent way, and how it distinguishes areas subject to forest management from those that are not Area of land subject to forest management can increase or decrease over time

15 Reporting LULUCF activities under the Kyoto Protocol Decision 15/CP.10 adopted a set of CRF tables for reporting of LULUCF activities under Articles 3.3 and 3.4 Parties may submit on voluntary basis this supplementary information next year (15 April 2007) Based on experiences of use, these CRF tables may be modified/ up-dated at SBSTA 27 (Dec 2007).

16 Reporting LULUCF activities under the Kyoto Protocol Supplementary information required: General information - definitions, description of how definitions apply to national circumstances and applied consistently Land-related information identify lands subject to 3.3 and 3.4 activities since 1990, spatial assessment unit used, maps/database to identify geographical locations Activity-specific information methodologies used, uncertainty estimates, year of onset of activity Information related to Article 6 (Joint Implementation)

17 Reporting LULUCF activities under the Kyoto Protocol Report on C stock changes in AGB, BGB, litter, dead wood and soils (ARD) for all Article 3.3 activities and each of the elected Article 3.4 activity N 2 O emissions from N fertilization (A/R, FM), drainage of organic/ mineral soils (FM), disturbance associated with land-use conversion to cropland C emissions from lime application (all 3.3 and elected 3.4 activities) GHG emissions from biomass burning

18 Reporting LULUCF activities under the Kyoto Protocol Modalities for the accounting of assigned amounts under Article 7, paragraph 4, of the Kyoto Protocol (13/CMP.1) Each Annex I Party shall submit to the secretariat, prior to 1 January 2007, a report (initial report) for establishing its assigned amount This report to contain several information related to LULUCF activities, amongst other information.

19 Reporting LULUCF activities under the Kyoto Protocol Identification of its selection of single minimum values for tree crown cover, land area and tree height for use in accounting for its activities under Article 3, paragraphs 3 and 4, together with a justification of the consistency of those values with the information that has been historically reported to the FAO or other international bodies, and in the case of difference, an explanation of why and how such values were chosen, in accordance with decision 16/CMP.1 Identification of its election of activities under Article 3, paragraph 4, for inclusion in its accounting for the first commitment period, together with information on how its national system under Article 5, paragraph 1, will identify land areas associated with the activities, in accordance with decision 16/CMP.1 Identification of whether, for each activity under Article 3, paragraphs 3 and 4, it intends to account annually or for the entire commitment period

20 JI LULUCF Projects (decision 9/CMP.1) LULUCF projects under Article 6 (Joint Implementation) shall conform to definitions, accounting rules, modalities and guidelines under Articles 3.3 and 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol Track 1(simplified JI Procedure): host Party fully meets all eligibility requirements Kyoto Party, AA established, national system and national registry in place, submits annual inventory, and supplementary information on 3.3 and 3.4 activities Track 2: only basic eligibility requirements met. Projects go through the verification procedure under the JISC

21 JI LULUCF Projects JI LULUCF PDD form for provisional application until COP/MOP adopts it Guidelines for users of JI LULUCF PDD agreed by JISC Approval of JI accreditation procedures of independent entities and application forms to allow JI Track 2 to become operational Oct 26: Official launch of JI Track 2 process. Independent entities will be able to submit PDD to the secretariat.

22 Reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries Process to consider possible policy options and positive incentives to reduce emissions from deforestation Workshop in Rome end of August Considered scientific, methodological and technical issues, policy approaches and positive incentives, based on country experiences and lessons learned A few proposed approaches presented by Parties marketbased, new funding arrangement under Convention, existing ODA Continue consideration of possible options in Nairobi SBSTA 27 to report to COP13 (Dec 2007)

23 THANK YOU