An introduction to the monitoring of forestry carbon sequestration projects

1. An introductionto the monitoring offorestry carbon sequestration projects Igino M. Emmer PhDFace Foundation Developing Forestry and Bioenergy Projects within CDM EcuadorMarch, 2004

3. F orestsA bsorbingC arbon dioxideE mission

4. Overview of the Face projects

5. Contents • Introduction • Basic principles of carbon monitoring in forests

6. Introduction What is carbon monitoring in forests? Forest carbon monitoring quantifies changes in carbon stocks in various carbon pools of the forestby repeated measurement

10. Why carbon monitoring? • Transparency and credibility • Verification (see project cycle) • Compliance versus voluntary

13. COP 9 • IPCC GPG LULUCF • Large versus small-scale projects

14. Monitoring plan • Contents (CDM EB): • GHG baseline and with-project • Archiving • Nature and quality of methodologies • Remedial measures for negative impacts • This introduction: carbon monitoring in CDM AR

15. Good Practice • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry • Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories • National inventories and projects • Winrock International and others

16. Basic principles of carbon monitoring • First considerations for planning • Data requirements • Tools for data collection • Carbon calculations • Leakage, risks and uncertainties

17. First considerations for planning • Greenhouse gasses involved • Baseline versus with-project scenario • Required frequency • Availability of expertise • Costs

18. Greenhouse gasses involved • CO2 (1 CO2e) • CH4 (23 CO2e) • N2O (296 CO2e)

19. Baseline versus with-project scenario • Baseline may become counterfactual • Plot selection • Modelling

20. Required frequency • Lomax: lowest cost/effort, maximum result • Carbon monitoring vs research • CDM AR: 5-year intervals • Just before verification • Statistics • Stock changes versus variability

21. Stock changes versus variability

22. High variability + small average change:large sample size

23. Pre-defined precision and accuracy • Precision: e.g. measuring a stem diameter • Accuracy: assessing the carbon stored in the forest Can be found in the IPCC GPG LULUCF

24. Availability of expertise: fields • Forestry, terrain knowledge • Sampling design and statistics • Logistics • Supervision and quality control

26. Costs • Labour intensive, time consuming: may easily become expensive • Lomax • Pre-monitoring intelligence • Pilot sampling • Relation with market price of CO2e (end of considerations)

27. Data requirement • 50% of biomass is carbon (C) • Carbon pools • Above-ground biomass • Below-ground biomass • Soil carbon • Litter

28. Pools to be involved • In principle all carbon pools within the project boundary must be considered • Only if transparent and verifiable information is provided, pools that are shown not to be a source may be excluded from the monitoring

29. Above-ground biomass

30. Above-ground biomass allometric biomass regression equation: B = a + b * D2 * H where B: biomass (kg) D: stem diameter (cm) at breast height (1.3 m) H: total height (m) a-b: regression parameters from the data, depending on tree species and site conditions

31. Below-ground biomass • Average below-ground to above-ground ratio for tropical, boreal and temperate forest (IPCC) = 0.26 • Varying little among latitudes (boreal-temperate-tropical) or soil texture • IPCC guidelines: ‘given the lack of standard methods and the time-consuming nature of monitoring below-ground biomass in forests, it is good practice to estimate below-ground biomass from either estimated aboveground biomass based on various equations or from locally derived data’

32. Soil carbon A general formula for calculating soil organic carbon: SOC = [SOC] * BulkDensity * Volume * (1-CoarsFragments) where SOC: soil carbon stock (Mg C/ha) [SOC]: concentration of soil carbon (g C/kg) BulkDensity (Mg/m3) CoarseFragments: fraction in %

33. Tools for data collection Good monitoring depends on • An adequate land classification scheme • An appropriate spatial and temporal resolution • A proper standard for precision and accuracy • A transparent methodology • Measures to assure consistency and availability over time

34. Remote sensing • Air photography • Satellite imagery • Radar

36. Ground-based surveys; sampling design • Ground-based surveys require field visits for measuring selected attributes • The way these attributes are measured in terms of ‘how many times’ and ‘where’ is the sampling design • The sampling design must • prevent any bias in measurements • allow for efficient execution of the work • allow for independent verification

37. Sampling design • Complete enumeration • Simple random sampling • Systematic sampling • Stratified random sampling Precision, Accuracy, Lomax

38. Sampling unit • Plot (permanent or temporary) • Pre-defined constant area (tonnes C/ha) • Permanent plots: • Better quantification of stock changes • Independent verification

40. Sample grid

41. Sample size versus precision level

42. Equipment

43. Carbon calculations • Carbon stocks • Sample size • Time intervals

44. Other issues • Leakage • Monitoring within project boundaries • Risks and uncertainties • Assessment • Mitigation