European Commission Joint Research Centre side-event on:
Preserving forest carbon stocks: Accounting for avoided conversion of
intact and non-intact forests
Technical options and a proposal for a policy tool
The side-event, organised by an international research organisation,
will provide information on potential definitions and modalities to be
considered for including avoided deforestation under a post 2012 system.
In particular the side-event will bring together scientists to address
the questions of what definition of intact forests to be used, what
methodologies for the measurement of conversion of intact and non-intact
forests are currently feasible from satellite imagery, and what
solutions would be adequate for determining carbon stock values of
forests and for designing conversion baselines for carbon crediting.
UNFCCC SBSTA-23 Montreal, Canada
Thursday 1st December, 2005, 13:00 – 14:00
EU Pavilion, Room 2
Agenda and Speakers
13.00 – 13.15: Introduction: context of carbon emissions due to tropical
deforestation
By Dr. Frédéric Achard, Dr. Alan Beward & Dr. Frank Raes, JRC
13.15 – 13.30: Driving factors of deforestation & rationale for
preservation actions
By Dr. Sandro Federici & Dr. Frank Raes, JRC
13.30 – 13.50: Technical options and a proposal for accounting for
avoided forest conversion
By Dr. Danilo Mollicone & Dr. Sandro Federici, JRC
13.50 – 14.00: Conclusions: potential benefits of a mechanism for
preserving forest carbon stocks
By Dr. Alan Beward & Dr. Danilo Mollicone, JRC
Executive Summary
Several tropical forest nations have expressed interest in incorporating
tropical deforestation into the post-2012 climate negotiations, and
policy discussions increasingly address mechanisms to credit reduced
deforestation. As the prospect of creating incentives to reduce
deforestation through the post-2012 system becomes more likely, the
following issues become important: definitions of deforestation,
definitions of baselines, attribution of carbon stock values to various
forest ecosystems, and last but not least the monitoring of deforestation.
The side-event, organised by an international research organisation,
will present some of the technical options available which could lead to
a proposal to account for, in a single monitoring system, both avoided
conversion of intact forests and avoided deforestation of non-intact
forests. The aim of this potential crediting system is to reduce GHG
emissions from land use change by decreasing the joint loss of intact
and non-intact forest areas at country level (up to targets to be
agreed). Such system is intended to provide incentives (credits) for
protecting the carbon stocks of the remaining forests with higher carbon
value given to the intact ecosystems.
The side-event will provide information on potential definitions and
modalities to be considered for including avoided deforestation under a
post-2012 system. In particular the side-event will bring together
scientists to address the questions of what definition of intact forests
to be used, what methodologies for the measurement of conversion of
intact and non-intact forests are currently feasible from satellite
imagery, and what solutions would be adequate for determining carbon
stock values and for designing historical and future conversion
baselines for carbon crediting.
Technical options will be presented in the context of the following
working definitions:
- Forests under the UNFCC definition are divided into intact and
non-intact forests.
- Deforestation is defined as the conversion of (i) intact forests to
other land use, (ii) non-intact forests to other land use and (iii)
intact forests to non-intact forests.
- Avoided deforestation is defined as the reduction of the conversion
rates of intact and non-intact forests below a baseline for each forest
type to be set up at global and country level. Options for constructing
such baselines could be based on extrapolating average conversion rates
of intact and non-intact forests between 1990 and 2005.
- Carbon credits would be proportional to the sum (intact + non-intact
areas) of the reduced conversion areas times the average forest standing
carbon stock with significantly regionally different carbon stock values
for intact and non-intact forests.
Legally binding contexts increase requirements for full accountability.
The science to support this is mature and appropriate Earth observation
sensors are currently flying. Robust, long-term institutional
commitments and frameworks should ensure continuity of satellite
observations and delivery of products in a guaranteed manner.
This proposal demonstrates that a mechanism for avoiding deforestation
could be implemented on an operational manner as the science to support
this is mature and the technical capabilities already exist.
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