IPCC Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry

UNFCCC Workshop on the Preparation of National Communications from non-Annex I Parties April 26-30, 2004, Manila Leandro Buendia Programme Officer, IPCC-NGGIP-TSU ([email protected])

Decision 17/CP.8

Objectives Para 1b. To encourage the presentation of information in a

consistent , transparent

and

comparable

, as well as flexible, manner, taking into account specific national circumstances.

Methodologies Para 11. Non-Annex 1 Parties are encouraged to apply the IPCC Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, taking into account the need to improve

transparency , consistency , comparability , completeness

and

accuracy

in inventories. Para 12. Non-Annex I Parties are also encouraged, to the extent possible, to undertake any circumstances.

key source analysis

as indicated in the IPCC good practice guidance to assist in developing inventories that better reflect their national Reporting Para 24. Non-Annex I Parties are encouraged to provide information on the

level of uncertainty

associated with inventory data and their underlying assumptions, and to describe the methodologies used, if any, for estimating these uncertainties.

Contents

Background Information What is good practice guidance? Relationship to GL96 and GPG2000 Contents of the Report Policy Relevance Conclusion

Background Information

GPG2000 did not cover the land-use change and forestry (LUCF) activities described in Chapter 5 of the GL96:



to avoid the risk of inconsistency with SR LULUCF



Kyoto Protocol sink negotiations weren’t concluded in 2000

Background Information

August 2001 : Expert Group Planning Mtg. to develop the work programme March 2002 – July 2003 : Conducted 5 Authors/Experts Meetings to draft and finalize the Report



First government/expert review in December 2002 to January 2003



Second governments/experts review in May to June 2003 November 2003 : IPCC XXI adopted/accepted the Report December 2003 : COP9 welcomed the Report April 2004 : published the GPG-LULUCF Report

What is good practice guidance?

GPG2000 defines inventories consistent with good practice as those which contain neither over- nor underestimates so far as can be judged, and in which uncertainties are reduced as far as is practicable given national circumstances.

When applied to LULUCF, this definition should ensure the bona fide estimates of:



emissions by sources and removal by sinks



carbon stock changes

Good practice aims to satisfy the definition by providing guidance on:



Choice of estimation method within the context of the IPCC Guidelines

 

QA/QC procedures to provide cross-checks during inventory compilation Data and information to be documented, archived and reported to facilitate review and assessment of inventory estimates



Quantification of uncertainties at the source or sink category level and for the inventory as a whole, so that resources available can be directed toward reducing uncertainties over time, and the improvement can be tracked

Good practice guidance further supports the development of inventories that are:

        

transparent documented consistent over time complete comparable assessed for uncertainties subject quality control and assurance efficient in the use of resources available to inventory agencies uncertainties are reduced as better information becomes available

Relationship to GL96 and GPG2000

GPG-LULUCF is consistent with GL96:  specific source or sink categories it addressed can be traced back to categories in GL96  it uses the same functional forms for the equations that are used in GL96, or their equivalent  it allows corrections of any errors or deficiencies that have been identified in GL96.

Relationship to GL96 and GPG2000

  GPG-LULUCF, following conclusion from SBSTA15, used some flexibilities in handling of categories while ensuring consistency with Chapter 5 of GL96.

GPG-LULUCF has some interlinkages with GPG2000 in estimation of agricultural emissions (i.e. N2O from soils), and must maintain consistency with the advice already agreed upon.

Contents of the Report

Preface Chapter 1 Overview Chapter 2 Basis for Consistent Representation of Land Areas Chapter 3 LUCF Sector Good Practice Guidance Chapter 4 Supplementary methods and good practice guidance arising from the Kyoto Protocol Chapter 5 Cross-Cutting Issues Glossary Basic Information Abbreviations and Acronyms List of Reviewers

Overview of the GPG-LULUCF

Basis for Consistent Representation of Land Areas Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Introduction Chapter 3 LUCF Sector Good Practice Guidance Supplementary methods and good practice guidance arising from the KP Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Cross-Cutting Issues

Chapter 1 Overview



sets out the mandate for GPG for LULUCF



defines and describes the history of IPCC good practice guidance and its relationship to the IPCC Guidelines



summarises the practical advice provided to inventory agencies



discusses policy relevance

Chapter 2 Basis for Consistent Representation of Land Areas

2.1

2.2

2.3

Introduction Land-Use Categories Representing Land Areas

Annexes and Appendices

Chapter 2: Annex 2A.1 Examples of Approaches in Individual Countries Annex 2A.2 Examples of International Land Cover Datasets

Chapter 2 Basis for Consistent Representation of Land Areas

 

provides advice on different approaches for representing land area depending on the data available provides 3 approaches for representing land areas (not hierarchical) Approach 1 – Basic Land-Use data Approach 2 – Survey of land use and land-use change Approach 3 – Geographically explicit land use data

 

six broad categories of land use that provide the basis for more detailed discussion in the chapters that follow advice on the development of land-use databases and some examples on their usage to approaches 1.Forest land 2.Cropland

3.Grassland

4.Wetlands

5.Settlements

6.Other land

Approach 1 – Basic Land-Use data



most common approach



uses area datasets likely to have been prepared for other purposes such as forestry or agricultural statistics

Approach 1 – Basic Land-Use data Land-use Category Forest land Cropland Grassland Wetlands Settlements Other land Total Area (Time 1) 18 31 84 0 5 2 140 Area (Time 2) 19 29 82 0 8 2 140 Land-use Change bet. T1 and T2 +1 -2 -2 0 +3 0 0

Approach 2 – Survey of land use and land-use change



include more information on changes between categories



more data intensive than Approach 1 but can account for all land-use transitions

Approach 2 – Survey of land use and land-use change Initial Final Forest Land Cropland Forest Land Cropland Grassland Wetlands Settlements Other Initial Area (2000) Net Change

321 2 2 2

327 -2

114 3

117 +2 Grassland

4 3 205

Wetlands Settlements

15 38

212 -2 15 0 38 +2 Other

2

2 0 Final Area (2001) 325 119 210 15 40 2 711 0

Approach 3 – Geographically explicit land use data



Requires spatially explicit data of land use and land-use change (location, boundaries)



Subdivide area into spatial units (e.g. grid cells) appropriate to the scale of land-use variation



Requires sampling sufficient for spatial interpolation

Approach 3 – Geographically explicit land use data

2000

Complete Coverage of all grid cells

2001

Approach 3 – Geographically explicit land use data Regular sampling grid

2000 2001

Approach 3 – Geographically explicit land use data Irregular sampling grid

2000 2001

Approach 3 – Geographically explicit land use data Grid cells can also be aggregated into polygons

2000 2001 F

Chapter 3: LUCF Sector Good Practice Guidance 3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.6

3.7

Introduction Forest Land Cropland Grassland Wetlands Settlements Other land

Chapter 3: LUCF Sector Good Practice Guidance



organised using six land-use categories, broad carbon pools and non-CO2 gases, and by tier LU Categories Forest land Cropland Grassland Wetlands Settlements Other land C Pools Living biomass Dead organic matter Soils Non-CO2 CH4 N2O NOx CO Tiers Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3

Carbon pools

above-ground biomass

Living biomass

below-ground biomass

Dead organic matter Soils

Dead wood Litter Soil organic matter

Land-Use Categories and C-Pools (“X” denotes that methodologies are provided in the GPG-LULUCF) Forest Land Cropland Grassland Wetlands Settlements Other Land Living Biomass

(above- and below-ground)

X Dead Organic Matter

(Dead wood and Litter)

X X X X X X Soils

(Soil Organic Matter)

X X X X X

Chapter 3: LUCF Sector Good Practice Guidance



provides advice on the estimation of emissions and removals of CO2 and non-CO2 greenhouse gases Methodological Issues

-

Choice of Method

-

Choice of EF

-

Choice of AD Completeness Developing a consistent time series Reporting and Documentation Inventory QA/QC



decision trees guide the choice of method according to national circumstances

Repeat for each land use category: - FF - GG - CC - WW - SS - OO Do managed forests exist? (Note 1) Yes No Report “Not Occurring” Repeat for each gas: - CO 2 (carbon) - CH - N 2 4 O Repeat for each subcategory*: - Biomass - Dead organic matter - Soils Is FF a key category? (Note 2) No Yes Ask for each sub category under FF (Note 3): Is this subcategory significant? (Note 4) No Use tier level most appropriate for available data Are country-specific data available?

No Yes Yes Develop or obtain representative data and EFs No Are country-specific data available?

Yes Yes Are advanced methods and detailed data for FF available in your country?

No Use advanced methods and detailed country specific data (Note 5)

(Tier 3)

Use country-specific data (Note 5)

(Tier 2)

Use default data (Note 5)

(Tier 1)

Chapter 3: LUCF Sector Good Practice Guidance



default values of emission factors/parameters and activity data Section 3.2 Forest Land (Annex 3A.1) 3.3 Cropland 3.4 Grassland Appendix 3a.1 (HWP) Appendix 3a.2 (drainage/rewetti ng) Appendix 3a.3

(Wetlands) Appendix 3a.4

(Settlements) Biomass 16 3 4 4 1 DOM 2 Soils 2 4 4 1 3 Total 20 7 8 4 1 3 1 Total Number of Tables 44

Chapter 3: LUCF Sector Good Practice Guidance



simple tables are provided to assist countries with the linkage to the IPCC Guidelines and good practices on the default methods in the IPCC Guidelines are clearly identified Table 3.1.1 - mapping between GL96 categories and GPG-LULUCF categories ……

Forest land

GPG-LULUCF Initial Time period Reporting Year Forest land Cropland Grassland Forest land Forest land Forest land GL96 5 A 5 A, 5 C, 5 D 5 A, 5 C, 5 D Wetlands Settlements Forest land Forest land 5 A, 5 C, 5 D 5 A, 5 C, 5 D Other land Forest land 5 A, 5 C, 5 D 5A- Changes in Forest and Other Woody Biomass Stocks 5C- Abandonment of Managed Lands 5D- Emissions and Removals from Soils

Cropland

GPG-LULUCF Initial Time period Reporting Year Cropland Forest land Grassland Wetlands Settlements Other land Cropland Cropland Cropland Cropland Cropland Cropland 5 D 5 D 5 D GL96 5 A, 5 D 5 B, 5 D 5 B, 5 D 5A- Changes in Forest and Other Woody Biomass Stocks 5B- Forest and Grassland Conversion 5D- Emissions and Removals from Soils

Grassland

GPG-LULUCF Initial Time period Reporting Year Grassland Forest land Cropland Grassland Grassland Grassland GL96 5 A, 5 D 5 B, 5 D 5 C, 5 D Wetlands Settlements Grassland Grassland 5 C, 5 D 5 C, 5 D Other land Grassland 5 C, 5 D 5A-Changes in Forest and Other Woody Biomass Stocks 5B- Forest and Grassland Conversion 5C- Abandonment of Managed Lands 5D- Emissions and Removals from Soils

Chapter 3: LUCF Sector Good Practice Guidance



also provides appendices covering wetlands and settlements, for which the IPCC Guidelines provide only limited advice and harvested wood products (HWP), which remain under consideration by the UNFCCC.

Annexes and Appendices

Chapter 3: Annex 3A.1 Biomass Default Tables for Section 3.2 Forest Land Annex 3A.2 Reporting Tables and Worksheets Appendix 3a.1 Harvested wood products: Basis for future methodological development Appendix 3a.2 Non-CO2 Emissions from drainage and rewetting of forest soils: Basis for future methodological development Appendix 3a.3 Wetlands remaining wetlands: Basis for future methodological development Appendix 3a.4 Settlements: Basis for future methodological development

Chapter 4 Supplementary methods and good practice guidance arising from the Kyoto Protocol

4.1

4.2

4.3

Introduction Methods for Estimation, Measurement, Monitoring and Reporting of LULUCF Activities under Articles 3.3 and 3.4

LULUCF Projects

Chapter 4 Supplementary methods and good practice guidance arising from the Kyoto Protocol

    Generally apply to Annex B Parties (emission cap) Provisions are fixed in the Kyoto Protocol and the Marrakesh Accords of the UNFCCC Additional classification of land areas Parties need to  choose certain parameters (e.g. thresholds in the definition   of forest) apply additional methods report annually on lands subject to: Article 3.3 Activities • Afforestation • Reforestation • Deforestation ( elected) Article 3.4 Activities • Forest management • Revegetation • Cropland management • Grazing land management

Kyoto Protocol Issues (Chapter 4)

Kyoto Protocol Issues (Chapter 4)

Kyoto Protocol Issues

(Chapter 4)



GPG-LULUCF gives guidance on

 how to

identify land areas

that are

subject to Article 3.3 and Article 3.4 activities

 

which pools

are to be

reported For which years C-stock changes and GHG emission

are to be

reported



For each Article 3.3 and 3.4 activity GPG-LULUCF gives guidance on:



Activity-specific issues

relating to identifying land areas and reporting requirements  The

choice of method

non-CO 2 emissions for estimating carbon stock changes and

Projects (CDM & JI) (Section 4.3)

 GPG-LULUCF is mostly about

national

inventories 

Section 4.3 is exceptional

IPCC Guidelines): (and new compared to the 1996  gives guidance on inventorying LULUCF projects (typically recommends the use of higher tiers)  gives guidance on defining project boundaries (for JI), measuring, monitoring and estimating changes in carbon stocks and non-CO 2 GHGs  gives detailed guidance on sampling design and statistical methods

Projects (CDM & JI) (Section 4.3)

 GPG-LULUCF does not address CDM-specific issues, such as baseline , non-permanence , additionality , leakage , uncertainties , and socio-economic and environmental impacts (these were negotiated at COP9 of the UNFCCC)

Annexes and Appendices

Chapter 4: Annex 4A.1 Tool for estimation of changes in soil carbon stocks associated with management changes in croplands and grazing lands based on IPCC default data Annex 4A.2Examples of allometric equations for estimating aboveground biomass and belowground biomass of trees

5.1

5.2

5.3

5.4

5.5

5.6

5.7

Chapter 5 Cross-Cutting Issues Introduction Identifying and Quantifying Uncertainties Sampling Methodological Choice -Identification of Key Categories Quality Assurance and Quality Control Time Series Consistency and Recalculations Verification

Chapter 5 Cross-Cutting Issues



provides advice on applying the key category concept in GPG2000 to cover sinks



provides advice on:



quality assurance and quality control



reconstruction of missing data



time series consistency



collecting and analysing data by sampling



quantification and combination of uncertainties



verification by means of comparison with inventories in other countries, independently compiled datasets, modelling approaches and direct measurements on land and/or atmosphere.

PART 2 - KEY CATEGORIES ANALYSIS WITH LULUCF (GPG-LULUCF)

GPG2000  the concept was named “ key source categories ” and dealt with the inventory excluding the LULUCF sector.

GPG-LULUCF  the term " key category " is used to better reflect that both sources and sinks are included.

GPG2000 vs. GPG-LULUCF



Both provide Quantitative and Qualitative approaches



Same decision tree to identify key categories



Same equations (format), spreadsheet, and threshold value



Due to inclusion of sinks, some parameters have to be modified to reflect absolute values

Quantitative Approach

-

Tier 1 Method Level Assessment Equation 5.4.1

Key Category Level Assessment = │Source or Sink Category Estimate│ / Total Contribution L x,t *= E x,t */ E t * Where: L x,t * = level assessment for source or sink x in year t (The asterisk * indicates that contributions from all categories (including LULUCF categories) are entered as absolute values.

E x,t *= │E x,t │= absolute value of emission or removal estimate of source or sink category x in year t E t * =



│E x,t │= total contribution, which is the sum of the absolute values of emissions and removals in year t. The asterisk (*) indicates that contributions from all categories (including LULUFC categories) enter as absolute values.

Trend Assessment (Tier 1)

Equation 5.4.2

Source or Sink Category Trend Assessment = (Source or Sink Category Level Assessment) •

|

(Source or Sink Category Trend – Total Trend)

|

Tx,t* = Ex,t* / Et •

|

[( Ex,t – Ex,0 ) / Ex,t ] – [ ( Et – E0 ) / Et]

|

Where: Tx,t* = trend assessment, which is the contribution of the source or sink category trend to the overall inventory trend. The Trend Assessment is always recorded as an absolute value, i.e., a negative value is always recorded as the equivalent positive value. The asterisk (*) indicates that, in contrast to Equation 7.2, in Chapter 7 of the GPG2000, LULUCF sources and sinks can be evaluated using this equation.

Ex,t* =  Ex,t  absolute value of emission or removal estimate of source or sink category x in year t Ex,t and Ex,0 = real values of estimates of source or sink category x in years t and 0, respectively Et and E0 = and total inventory estimates in years t and 0, respectivelyEt and E0 differ from Et* and E0* in Equation 5.4.1 in that removals are

not

entered as absolute values.

Tier 2 Method – Level Assessment Equation 5.4.4

Level Assessment, with Uncertainty = Tier 1 Level Assessment

●

Uncertainty Relative Source LU x,t = L x,t

●

U x,t

Note: The key categories are identified by accounting for those that add up to 90% of the total value of the total

LU x,t

Flugsrud, 2001). (Rypdal &

Qualitative Consideration

 Mitigation techniques and technologies  High expected growth of emissions or removals  High uncertainty  Unexpectedly high or low emissions or removals  Large stocks  Deforestation  Completeness

Policy Relevance

 Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 5 are relevant to all countries to estimate emissions/removals from LULUCF Sector, whether or not KP is ratified  First 2 sections of Chapter 4 provide supplementary information to that in Chapters 2, 3 and 5, which is relevant only to Annex I countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol.  Section 4.3 (LULUCF Projects) is relevant to all countries that will undertake projects under the Articles 6 or 12 of the Kyoto Protocol.

Policy Relevance

 some issues remain under consideration for some emission/removal categories are put in the appendix:  harvested wood products (the material provided is in an appendix rather than part of the main text, since SBSTA is still considering this issue)  Settlements and wetlands are land-use categories for which limited methodological guidance was provided in the IPCC Guidelines, but a great deal of scientific work has been done since GL96.  This applies also to non-CO2 emissions from drainage and rewetting of forests soils.

Policy Relevance

 Countries do not have to prepare estimates for categories contained in appendices, although they can do so if they desire.

 The IPCC Guidelines do not explicitly include losses from natural disturbances in managed forests (omitting the effect of these disturbances would overestimate C uptakes). GPG therefore provides guidance on how to account for them.

 For Kyoto Protocol reporting, Chapter 4 is intended to provide policy-neutral scientific operationalisation of the COP7 agreement in terms of annual reporting.

Conclusions

Steps in LULUCF inventory preparation

1.

2.

3.

4.

Use the 3 approaches (Chapter 2) to estimate land areas for each land-use category relevant to your country Follow the good practice guidance (Chapter 3) to estimate the emissions and removals of GHGs for each land use, land-use change and pool relevant to your country. Perform key category analysis. If necessary collect additional data to improve data quality.

Estimate uncertainties, report emissions/removals, and implement Quality assurance/quality control procedures (Chapter 5).

(if required: prepare supplementary information for Kyoto Protocol reporting (follow Chapter 4))

Conclusions

 it is through

good practice guidance and uncertainty management

that a sound basis can be provided to produce more reliable estimates of the magnitude of absolute and trend uncertainties in GHG inventories than has been achieved previously  whatever the level of complexity of the inventory,

good practice

provides improved understanding of how uncertainties may be managed to produce emissions estimates that are acceptable for the purposes of the UNFCCC (i.e.

transparency , consistency , comparability , completeness accuracy

and in inventories), and for the scientific work associated with GHG inventories.

Conclusions

The development of Good Practice Guidance for LULUCF is a step in the IPCC’s on going programme of inventory development and will also support future revisions of the IPCC Guidelines themselves….

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