ipcc good practice guidance for land use, land-use change and forestry ipcc good practice guidance...

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

and Forestryand Forestry

UNFCCC Workshop on the Preparation of National Communications from non-Annex I Parties

April 26-30, 2004, Manila

Leandro BuendiaProgramme Officer, IPCC-NGGIP-TSU

([email protected])

Decision 17/CP.8

ObjectivesPara 1b. To encourage the presentation of information in a consistent, transparent and comparable, as well as flexible, manner, taking into account specific national circumstances.

MethodologiesPara 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 key source analysis as indicated in the IPCC good practice guidance to assist in developing inventories that better reflect their national circumstances.

ReportingPara 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 programmeMarch 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 ReportDecember 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

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

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

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

PrefaceChapter 1 OverviewChapter 2 Basis for Consistent Representation of

Land AreasChapter 3 LUCF Sector Good Practice GuidanceChapter 4 Supplementary methods and good practice

guidance arising from the Kyoto ProtocolChapter 5 Cross-Cutting IssuesGlossaryBasic InformationAbbreviations and AcronymsList of Reviewers

Overview of the GPG-LULUCF

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

IntroductionBasis for Consistent Representation of Land Areas

LUCF Sector Good PracticeGuidance

Supplementary methods and good practice guidance arising from the KP

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 Introduction

2.2 Land-Use Categories

2.3 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)

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

Approach 1 – Basic Land-Use data

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

Approach 3 – Geographically explicit land use data

1.Forest land2.Cropland3.Grassland4.Wetlands5.Settlements6.Other land


most common approach

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


Land-use Category

Area(Time 1)

Area(Time 2)

Land-use Change bet. T1 and T2

Forest land 18 19 +1

Cropland 31 29 -2

Grassland 84 82 -2

Wetlands 0 0 0

Settlements 5 8 +3

Other land 2 2 0

Total 140 140 0


include more information on changes between categories

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


Forest Land Cropland Grassland Wetlands Settlements OtherFinal Area

(2001)

Forest Land 321 4 325

Cropland 2 114 3 119

Grassland 2 3 205 210

Wetlands 15 15

Settlements 2 38 40

Other 2 2

Initial Area (2000) 327 117 212 15 38 2 711

Net Change -2 +2 -2 0 +2 0 0

Initial

Final


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


2000 2001

Complete Coverage of all grid cells


Regular sampling grid

2000 2001


Irregular sampling grid

2000 2001


Grid cells can also be aggregated into polygons

2000 2001

F

Chapter 3: LUCF Sector Good Practice Guidance

3.1 Introduction3.2 Forest Land3.3 Cropland3.4 Grassland3.5 Wetlands3.6 Settlements3.7 Other land


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 poolsCarbon pools

Living biomass

above-ground biomass

below-ground biomass

Dead organic matter

Dead wood

Litter

Soils Soil organic matter

Land-Use Categories and C-Pools Land-Use Categories and C-Pools (“X” denotes that methodologies are provided in the GPG-LULUCF)

Forest Land

Cropland Grassland Wetlands SettlementsOther Land

Living

Biomass(above- and

below-ground)

X X X X X X

Dead Organic Matter(Dead wood and Litter)

X

Soils (Soil Organic Matter)

X X X X X


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

decision trees guide the choice of method according

to national circumstances

Methodological Issues

- Choice of Method

- Choice of EF

- Choice of AD

Completeness

Developing a consistent time series

Reporting and Documentation

Inventory QA/QC

Repeat for each gas:- CO2 (carbon)- CH4

- N2O

Repeat for each land use category:- FF- GG- CC- WW- SS- OO

Repeat for each subcategory*:- Biomass- Dead organic matter- Soils

Do managed forests exist?

(Note 1)Report “Not Occurring”

Is FF a key category?

(Note 2)

Use tier level most appropriate for available

data

Ask for each sub-

category under FF (Note 3): Is this subcategory

significant? (Note 4)

Are country-specific data

available?

Are country-specific data

available?

Are advanced methods

and detailed data for FF available in your

country?

Develop or obtain representative data and

EFs

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)

No

Yes

No

Yes

No No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes No


default values of emission factors/parameters and activity data

Section Biomass DOM Soils Total

3.2 Forest Land (Annex 3A.1)

16 2 2 20

3.3 Cropland 3 4 7

3.4 Grassland 4 4 8

Appendix 3a.1 (HWP)

4 4

Appendix 3a.2 (drainage/rewetting)

1 1

Appendix 3a.3(Wetlands)

3 3

Appendix 3a.4(Settlements)

1 1

Total Number of Tables 44


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 landGPG-LULUCF GL96

Initial Time period Reporting Year

Forest land Forest land 5 A

Cropland Forest land 5 A, 5 C, 5 D

Grassland Forest land 5 A, 5 C, 5 D

Wetlands Forest land 5 A, 5 C, 5 D

Settlements Forest land 5 A, 5 C, 5 D

Other land Forest land 5 A, 5 C, 5 D

5A- Changes in Forest and Other Woody Biomass Stocks5C- Abandonment of Managed Lands5D- Emissions and Removals from Soils

CroplandGPG-LULUCF GL96


Cropland Cropland 5 A, 5 D

Forest land Cropland 5 B, 5 D

Grassland Cropland 5 B, 5 D

Wetlands Cropland 5 D

Settlements Cropland 5 D

Other land Cropland 5 D

5A- Changes in Forest and Other Woody Biomass Stocks5B- Forest and Grassland Conversion5D- Emissions and Removals from Soils

GrasslandGPG-LULUCF GL96


Grassland Grassland 5 A, 5 D

Forest land Grassland 5 B, 5 D

Cropland Grassland 5 C, 5 D

Wetlands Grassland 5 C, 5 D

Settlements Grassland 5 C, 5 D

Other land Grassland 5 C, 5 D

5A-Changes in Forest and Other Woody Biomass Stocks5B- Forest and Grassland Conversion5C- Abandonment of Managed Lands5D- Emissions and Removals from Soils


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 AppendicesChapter 3:Annex 3A.1 Biomass Default Tables for Section 3.2

Forest LandAnnex 3A.2 Reporting Tables and WorksheetsAppendix 3a.1 Harvested wood products: Basis for

future methodological developmentAppendix 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 Introduction

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

4.3 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)

Wetland, Settlements, Other Lands

Unmanaged forest

Unmanaged grassland

Managed grassland Managed forest

Cropland/arable/tillage


CM

GM

Wetland, Settlements, Other Lands

Unmanaged forest

Unmanaged grassland

Managed grassland Managed forest

Cropland/arable/tillage

RV## D##

D** ##

AR* ##

RV# ##

D** ## RV# ## FM

CM

GM


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 for estimating carbon stock changes and

non-CO2 emissions

Projects (CDM & JI) (Section 4.3)

GPG-LULUCF is mostly about national inventories Section 4.3 is exceptional (and new compared to the 1996

IPCC Guidelines):

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-CO2 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 AppendicesChapter 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

Chapter 5 Cross-Cutting Issues

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Identifying and Quantifying Uncertainties

5.3 Sampling

5.4 Methodological Choice -Identification of Key Categories

5.5 Quality Assurance and Quality Control

5.6 Time Series Consistency and Recalculations

5.7 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 controlreconstruction of missing data time series consistencycollecting and analysing data by samplingquantification and combination of uncertaintiesverification 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 5.4.1Key Category Level Assessment =

│Source or Sink Category Estimate│ / Total Contribution

Lx,t *= Ex,t */ Et*

Where:

Lx,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.

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

Et* = │Ex,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 ● Relative Source Uncertainty

LUx,t = Lx,t ● Ux,t

Note: The key categories are identified by accounting for those that add up to 90% of the total value of the total LUx,t (Rypdal & Flugsrud, 2001).

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. Use the 3 approaches (Chapter 2) to estimate land areas for each land-use category relevant to your country

2. 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.

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

4. (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 and accuracy 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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