Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry

6.2.4. Issues for Consideration in National and Project Reporting (continued)

Table 6-2: Issues related to data quality at the national level.

Issue	Question	National Reporting

Measurements and data	Are measured data available for estimating changes in carbon stock?	Collection of national data is outside the scope of the Guidelines. However, the reliance on default data can be a constraint to obtaining reliable estimates.

Uncertainty, accuracy, and precision	Can the uncertainty, accuracy, and precision of estimates of changes in carbon stock be calculated and reported?	Basic statistical methods for estimating uncertainty are provided in the Reporting Instructions. The confidence level of emissions estimates is reported in Table 8A, often qualitatively, by countries. Methods of reporting uncertainty may not be adequate.

Transparency	Do the Guidelines allow for transparent reporting of stock changes resulting from ARD and additional activities?	The Guidelines allow for transparency reporting, but only if countries provide worksheets and additional supporting information.

Verifiability	Are there methods in the Guidelines for verifying changes in carbon stock resulting from ARD and additional activities?	Basic verification steps are outlined but are not explicit. There are no reporting sheets for verification.

Table 6-3: Other issues related to reporting at the national and project levels.

Issue	Questions	National Reporting	Project Reporting

Scale dependency	Are the methods in the Guidelines scale dependent? Could they be applied at different scales, including at the project level?	The Guidelines are designed for national level reporting.	The Guidelines are not designed for project-level reporting. A well-defined system boundary should be part of any reporting guidelines for projects.

Additionality and baselines	Do the Guidelines provide methods for reporting baselines and additionality?	Not possible to report baselines and additionality for a given year. At the reporting level, activities that reduce emissions are not distinguished from those that increase carbon storage.	The Guidelines are not designed for reporting additionality and baselines. New methods for reporting system boundaries, additionality, and baselines and for projections may be required.

Leakage	Do the Guidelines provide a basis for reporting leakage?	The Guidelines are not designed to detect leakage at the national level.	The Guidelines are not designed to detect leakage at the project level. The reporting of all projects within a system boundary would be required for detecting leakage.

Periodicity of data and time scales of processes	What is the periodicity of the input data in the Guidelines? How does this periodicity relate to the time scales of the processes, the inventory base year (1990), and the commitment period (2008-2012)?	The periodicity of the input data varies from 3-yr averages to 20 years or more. For delayed processes, historical data over 10- and 20-yr periods and longer are needed. The full impacts of an activity may not occur, or be detected, in the commitment period if the effects are delayed.	The frequency of data collection depends on the nature of the project.

Frequency of data measurements and reporting	What is the frequency of measurements and reporting in the Guidelines? What are the implications of the frequency of measurements for assessing annual carbon stocks as currently required under the Protocol?	The Guidelines are designed for annual reporting. However, annual measurements are not always available. The implications of how stocks will be reported during the commitment period (2008-2012) are not clear.	Project-level measurements and reporting may follow the national reporting.

Cost of data collection	Is the cost of different methods for data collection provided in the Guidelines?	Costs of data collection are not discussed.	Costs of data collection are built in, and fully considered, when determining the feasibility of a project.

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