Chapter 3 focuses on Article 3.3 of the Kyoto Protocol. Article 3.3 identifies direct human-induced (DHI) land-use change and forestry activities for which Annex I Parties must account greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by sources and removals by sinks in the first commitment period. These activities are afforestation, reforestation, and deforestation (ARD). The implementation of Article 3.3 requires definitions for several terms and decisions on carbon accounting rules. Chapter 3, which builds on the general concepts introduced in Chapter 2, identifies issues, describes various options to address these issues, and summarizes the implications of the options.
The term "ARD land" is used in this report, for simplicity, to define areas on which ARD activities have occurred since 1990 and for which carbon stock changes are to be calculated. Key to the identification of ARD lands under Article 3.3 is the definition of a forest coupled with definitions of afforestation, reforestation, and deforestation. The individual definitions of these terms addressed in Sections 2.2.2 and 2.2.3 provide a basis for the discussion in this chapter.
This chapter introduces a series of definitional scenarios to illustrate the implications of several combinations of different definitions of forest and ARD. These scenarios were selected to illustrate the range of possible approaches that could be used to define the key terms necessary for implementing Article 3.3 and the implications of employing these definitions. Although many definitional scenarios could have been developed, seven have been chosen and are discussed in detail. Two of the definitional scenarios are based on existing Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) definitions and definitions listed in the Glossary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines. The other five scenarios were selected to represent a broad range of plausible combinations of definitions that could be applied under Article 3.3. All of these scenarios are listed in Table 3-1.
Table 3-1: Descriptions and implications of definitional scenarios. | |||
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Definitional Scenario |
Description
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General Implications
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FAO | Forest: Lands that have, or will have because of continued growth, more than 10% canopy cover. Deforestation is decline of canopy cover to below 10%, but excludes changes within the forest class; reforestation is artificial establishment of forest on lands that had them previously (including regeneration post-harvest); afforestation is artificial establishment of forest on lands that were not historically forest. |
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IPCC | Forest: As in FAO definition. Reforestation and afforestation are a land-use change from non-forest to forest through planting and differ only in that afforested lands never contained forest. Reforestation does not include regeneration post-harvest. Deforestation is conversion of forest to non-forest. |
1 and 2 apply.
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Land Use | Forest: Defined administratively or based on specific land-use activities. Deforestation is conversion of forest to non-forest; reforestation and afforestation are the activities that lead to conversion of non-forest to forest. |
1, 6, and 7 apply.
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Land Cover | Forest: As in FAO definition except that regrowing stands that are below the canopy cover threshold are not counted as forest. Deforestation is conversion of forest to non-forest; afforestation and reforestation are reestablishment of minimum canopy cover. |
1, 2, and 5 apply
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Flexible | Forest: As in FAO definition, but countries have flexibility in choosing the threshold (e.g., based on carbon content of aboveground living woody biomass (t C ha-1), tree height, and/or canopy cover). Afforestation, reforestation, and deforestation defined as in IPCC scenario, but natural regeneration is included in AR. |
1, 2, 6, and 7 apply.
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Degradation/ Aggradation |
Forest: Defined in carbon density or canopy cover classes (e.g., 10 to <40%, 40 to <70% canopy cover). Deforestation is decrease in canopy cover or carbon density at maturity from one class to another. Reforestation is the reverse, and afforestation is establishment of forest on lands that were non-forest for a predefined period. |
1, 6, and 11 apply.
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Biome | Forest: As in FAO definition, but threshold in the definition of forest is specified by biome through, for example, an international expert panel. Afforestation, reforestation, and deforestation defined as in IPCC scenario, but natural regeneration is included in AR. | 1, 2, 6, 7, and 11 apply. | |
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The definitions of ARD and forest used to implement Article 3.3 will affect the area of land covered by this Article. These definitions can also affect the area of land on which activities covered by Article 3.4 (see Chapter 4) could take place, assuming that no activity is to be counted under both Articles at the same time. For example, if the definition of reforestation does not include regeneration following clear-cut harvesting, ARD lands would be limited and more activities related to forest management could be considered under Article 3.4. The definitional scenarios illustrate how the harvest/regeneration cycle could be included or excluded from coverage under Article 3.3 through the use of different definitions of ARD and forest.
This chapter examines the implications of the definitional scenarios and identifies the key decisions. Eight such decisions, the options for each, and the implications of each option are outlined in Table 3-2. Although all combinations of options are possible, some combinations will create situations in which carbon stock changes reported under Article 3.3 will not reflect their actual contribution to the changes in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide.
Table 3-2: Issues, options, and implications related to definition of ARD activities. | ||
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Issue |
Options and Implications
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What should be the basis for the definition of forest? (Section 3.2, Table 3-4, and Section 2.2.2.1) |
Vegetation characteristics
Land-use or administrative characteristics
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Should the criterion that distinguishes forest from non-forest vary by
biome or by country, or be the same for all Annex I countries? (Section 3.2 and Table 3-4) |
By biome
By country
Same for all Annex I countries
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Should a maximum spatial assessment unit be specified? (Sections 3.4.2 and 3.4.4) |
Yes
No
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Should the definition of "reforestation" include or exclude reestablishment
of tree cover after clear-cut harvesting? |
Include
Exclude
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Should (re)establishment of forests through natural means be considered
a form of afforestation or reforestation? (Section 3.2, Table 3-4, and Section 2.2.3.2) |
Yes
No
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Should Article 3.3 include degradation/aggradation of forest land? (Section 3.2, Table 3-4, and Sections 2.2.3.4 and 2.2.3.5) |
Yes
No
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Should the qualifier "direct human-induced" refer only to ARD activities,
or also to stock changes resulting from these ARD activities? (Sections 3.3.2.1, 2.3.3.1, and 2.3.3.2) |
Refer only to ARD activities
Refer to ARD activities and resultant stock changes
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How should "land-use change" in Article 3.7 be defined in relation to
definition of ARD in Article 3.3? (Section 3.3.2.8) |
Define both ARD and "land-use change" as transitions between "forest" and "non-forest"
Define ARD as transition between "forest" and "non-forest;" define "land-use change" as transition between, for example, the 15 land categories in Chapter 2 (see Table 2-1)
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Other reports in this collection |