Climate MRV for Africa – Phase 2

Development of National GHG Inventory

Land Representation

Project of the European Commission

DG Clima Action EuropeAid/136245/DH/SER/MULTI

Tomasz Kowalczewski, Paolo Prosperi Forestry Experts 2017

Lead partner

Outline

The managed land

Key categories

Representation of lands

Practical excesses

The Managed Land Proxy

In 2003 the IPCC reported that the scientific

community cannot currently provide a

practicable methodology that would factor out

direct human-induced effects from indirect

human-induced and natural effects for any broad

range of LULUCF activities and circumstances

Therefore the IPCC (in the 2003) adopted the use

of estimates of GHG emissions and removals on

managed land as a proxy for the estimation of

anthropogenic emissions and removals

Rationale and assumptions underlying the

managed land proxy

The distinction between anthropogenic and natural emissions is clear

in most sectors apart from LULUCF / AFOLU.

Estimating all carbon stock changes in LULUCF/AFOLU would capture

management, all disturbances, indirect anthropogenic effects and

natural processes, IPCC guidelines provides appropriate details on

how to estimate these stock changes.

Although the effects of particular factors may be estimated, because

of interactions it is less clear if it is possible to apportion the total

carbon stock change uniquely to individual drivers (e.g. possible

biomass increases or decreases driven by differing management

regimes, age distribution of forests, natural disturbances, CO2 and

nitrogen fertilisation etc.).

Rationale and assumptions underlying the managed land proxy

The IPCC guidelines recommend using emissions and removals

from managed land as a proxy for anthropogenic emissions and

removals

Anthropogenic emissions and removals means that greenhouse

gas emissions and removals included in national inventories are a

result of human activities.

The distinction between natural and anthropogenic emissions and

removals follows straightforwardly from the data used to quantify

human activity.

In the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) Sector,

emissions and removals on managed land are taken as a proxy for

anthropogenic emissions and removals, and interannual variations

in natural background emissions and removals, though these can

be significant, are assumed to average out over time.

(2006 Guidelines Vol. 1 Ch. 1 Page 1.4)

Rationale and assumptions underlying the managed land proxy

Inventory compilers should report all emissions and removals that occur on managed land. Managed land in this context is given a broad definition:

Managed land is land

where human interventions

and practices have been

applied to perform

production, ecological or

social functions.

Canada Case

Canada has designated around 34% of its forests

as “unmanaged”

IPCC 2006 guidelines- assistance

IPCC 2006 assists Parties in identifying the key categories:

land categories (e.g. forest land, cropland, etc.)

gases (CO2, CH4 and N2O)

carbon pools (living biomass, dead organic matter and soil organic carbon).

The decision trees given in IPCC 2006 could be adopted:

Decision trees at two levels of disaggregation:

Land remaining in the same land-use category (e.g. forest land remaining forest land)

Land converted to another land-use category (e.g. grassland converted to forest).

Land representation

We need to subdivide (stratify) country’s land area into a

number of land use strata where C stocks and C stock

dynamics are more homogeneous (i.e. have a lower

variability).

Land representation allows that as it consists of the analysis

undertaken to identify and quantify human activities on land,

as well as to track their changes over time.

Forestry Deforestation Agriculture

Activity (in terms of land representation refers to): A practice or system of practices that take place on a delineated area over a given period of time. Land representation: the analysis undertaken to identify and quantify human activities on land, as well as to track their changes over time. Its result is a stratification of the total area of the country according to a number of variables with the purpose of making the GHG inventory compilation practicable while enhancing the accuracy of GHG estimates Strata (singular stratum): a stratum is a homogeneous population (e.g. vegetation, management practices) with respect to one or more of the variables. Unit of land: a unit of land corresponds to a stratum

Definitions

Land Representation

• Adequate = Capable of representing all land use categories;

• Consistent = Capable of representing land use categories consistently

across time;

• Complete = All land area within the country is included;

• Comparable = Categories suitable to be aggregated according to the

IPCC default categories.

Stratification applies the following variables:

Bio-physical characteristics

Land Use

Management practices and disturbances

Other category-specific variables

Land is characterized

by bio-physical

variables and various

human activities.

The stratification of land by

climate is important because

temperature and water are the two

main parameters that determine the

accumulation and decay of biomass

and dead organic matter on the land.

Climate zone data set

The IPCC recommends classifying

land according to climate zones that

are defined by a set of rules based

on:

• Annual mean daily temperature;

• Total annual precipitation;

• Total annual potential evapo-

transpiration (PET); and

• Elevation.

Stratification

– Bio-physical characteristics

The stratification of land by soil type is

important because soil contains the largest

portion of terrestrial C stocks in the SOM pool.

C stocks and their dynamic in the soil are

influenced by the physical and bio-chemical characteristics of soil. The 2006 IPCC Guidelines

classify country’s soils in default types derived

from the World Harmonized Soil Database.

Soil type data set

Mineral soils Organic soils

Stratification – Bio-physical characteristics

The stratification of land by ecological zone

(or potential vegetation zone) is important since

woody biomass is the second largest terrestrial C

pool. The IPCC uses the Global Ecological Zone

(GEZ) classification provided by the Food and

Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United

Nations.

Presented here are the ecological zones provided by FAO:

Tropical rainforest

Tropical most deciduous

forest

Tropical dry forest

Tropical shrubland

Tropical desert

Tropical mountain

systems

Subtropical humid forest

Subtropical dry forest

Subtropical steppe

Subtropical desert

Subtropical mountain

systems

Temperate oceanic

Temperate continental

forest

Temperate steppe

Temperate desert

Temperate mountain

systems

Boreal coniferous forest

Boreal tundra woodland

Boreal mountain systems

Polar

Stratification

– Bio-physical characteristics

Stratification – Land use

The stratification by land use is done in the following order:

• Step 1: Managed and unmanaged land

• Step 2: Six IPCC land use categories

• Step 3: “Land remaining in the same land-use category” and “Land converted into a new land use category”

• Step 4: Land conversion categories

Click on

each step.

Step 1: Differentiate between managed land and unmanaged land.

GHG emissions and removals must always be reported if they occur on managed

land. However, it is good practice to track the area of unmanaged land over time so

that consistency in area accounting is maintained.

Unmanaged Land Managed Land

Key Categories

Forest land Croplands Grasslands Wetlands Settelments Other lands

Six key categories

Each land-use category is further disaggregated to reflect the past and the current land use: forest land remaining forest land or land converted to forest land

Land use vs Land cover

Land cover is determined by the bio-physical coverage of land (for

example, crops, trees, buildings and roads or lakes),

Land use is determined by the socioeconomic use that is made of

land (for example, agriculture, forestry, residential use or recreation);

at any one place, there may be multiple (e.g. agro-forestry) and

alternate (e.g. rotation between cropland and grassland) land uses.

Most of spatial datasets contain information on land cover since this is readily derived from image analysis. However, for estimating GHG fluxes the information needed is the land use, and using land cover data instead of land use information may largely impact the GHG estimates, in particular when the reporting of GHG emissions and removals does not cover all NGHGI categories, as it is the case of project activities as, for example, REDD-plus activities.

Methodological difference between land cover and

land use

An area covered by trees is clear cut:

Applying a land cover classification, we may just estimate the loss of the

biomass C stock of the tree cover;

Applying a land use classification, we will estimate:

the loss of the biomass C stock,

the gain of biomass C stock associated with the following vegetation regrowth (the type of which depends from the current land use e.g. forest regrowth in case of temporary loss of forest cover);

the change in the DOM C stock as difference between the C stocks in the previous and in the current land use;

the change in SOC as difference between the C stocks in the previous and in the current land use.

Click on

each step.

Differentiate the land use categories according to their current

and previous land uses.

Changes in land use from one category to another cause changes in the

level of C stocks across a transition period (IPCC default = 20 years).

Tracking land use history is therefore an important factor when selecting

the appropriate methodology for estimating GHG emissions and removals.

Consequently, the IPCC stratifies national areas in two types of land

categories shown here.

Land remaining in a land use category

(no conversion in the last 20 years)

Land converted into a new land use

category

(conversion in the last 20 years)

Stratification – Land use

Land Use Transitions in IPCC 2006

Guidelines

Forest Land

Forest Land Remaining Forest Land (FF)

Land Converted to Forest Land (LF)

Cropland

Cropland Remaining Cropland Land (CC)

Land Converted to Cropland (LC)

Grassland

Grassland Remaining Grassland Land (GG)

Land Converted to Grassland (LG)

Wetlands Peatland Remaining Peatland Land Being Converted for Peat

Extraction Flooded Land Remaining

Flooded Land Land Converted to Flooded

Land Settlements

Settlements Remaining Settlements (SS)

Land Converted to Settlements (LS)

Other Land Land Converted to Other land

AFOLU: Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses

Land categories and subcategories, carbon pools

and non-CO2 gases

Main land

categories

Subcategories

(based on transformation)

Disaggregated level C-pools Non-CO2

gases

Forest land Forest land remaining forest land - Evergreen, deciduous etc.

- Eucalyptus, secondary

forest

AGB, BGB,

DOM, litter

and soil

carbon

CH4, N2O

Land converted to forest land

Cropland Cropland remaining cropland - Irrigated, unirrigated

- Paddy, irrigated, rain-fed

- Coconut, coffee, tea, etc. Land converted to cropland

Grassland Grassland remaining grassland - Climatic regions

Land converted to grassland

Wetland Wetland remaining wetland - Peat land

- Flooded land Land converted to wetland

Settlements Settlement remaining settlement

Land converted to settlements

Sources of non-CO2 gases: N2O and CH4 from forest fire, N2O from managed (fertilized) forests, N2O from drainage of forest soils, N2O and CH4 from managed wetland, and soil emissions of N2O following land-use conversion.

The variable for stratification by

disturbances that applies to all land

categories is fire. Fires can occur as a

consequence of human activities and/or of

natural events. Prescribed fires and

wildfires should both be taken into account

in the GHG Inventory when occurring on

managed land. Total Savanna burned area

Global Fire

Emissions

Database The frequency of fires in an ecosystem

is a variable for stratification since it

impacts the average long term C

stocks, as well as the annual dynamic

of C stocks

Stratification –disturbances

A map’s data

can provide

information on

the location,

extent and

frequency of

fires on land.

Design of a stratification scheme

Land representation requires the use official statistics and datasets from

national sources, if available, or from trusted international sources, and the

harmonization of these various data sets and definitions to minimize gaps and

avoid overlaps.

The level of stratification should balance accuracy of GHG estimates an

country’s capacity and needs, considering that:

IPCC default factors are built for the IPCC default stratification (Tier 1) that includes: climate, soil,

ecological zones and management system/practices: no ambiguity in the selection of IPCC default

data to implement IPCC methods.

Where countries are applying Tier 2 or 3 methods, it is likely that stratification schemes may differ from

the above-listed variables due to country-specific characteristics and data availability. In case IPCC

default factors and parameters are used, their adjustment to the country-specific stratification is likely

required.

Data on management practices might only be available at Approach 1 level (i.e. no management

changes tracked). In this case, management can be summarized as a proportion (%) of the

management practice in each “lands remaining” and “lands converted” category.

IPCC 2006 guidelines- land use definitions

Forest land: all land with woody vegetation consistent with thresholds

used to define forest land in the national GHG inventory, sub-divided into

managed and unmanaged, and also by ecosystem type as specified in the

Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines. Also includes systems with vegetation that

fall below, but are expected to exceed, the threshold of the forest land

category.

Forests can be either managed or unmanaged and there are extensive boreal and

tropical unmanaged forests. Both managed temperate and tropical and unmanaged

forests currently appear to be a significant carbon sink (Stephens B. B. 2007; Le Quere C.

2009)

The IPCC Expert Meeting in Sao Jose dos Campos (Brazil) in 2009 concluded that all cropland and

settlements are managed

Features of Forest Land

Estimates carbon stock changes and GHG emissions/removals associated with

changes in biomass and soil organic carbon on forest land and lands

converted to forest land

Provides methodology for five carbon pools

Links biomass and soil carbon pools for the same land areas (at higher tiers)

Estimates annual increase in living biomass (AGB + BGB) carbon stocks,

decrease in carbon stocks and net change in carbon stocks

Estimates carbon stock change in deadwood, litter and net annual change in

carbon stock in DOM

Estimates carbon stock change in mineral soils and organic soils and net

annual change in carbon stock in soils

“Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees

higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than

10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in

situ. It does not include land that is predominantly

under agricultural or urban land use.”

An example of a forest definition selected by a country. The information provided

helps to show how land use categories definitions can vary.

Countries may classify their forests according to the

FAO definition found in the Forest Resources

Assessment Working Paper document.

Example of a forest definition

Cropland definitions

Cropland: land that is not forest land or

grassland. (Arable and tillage land, and agro-

forestry systems where woody vegetation falls

below the thresholds used for the forest land).

Features of Cropland

Provides methods for estimating carbon stock changes in cropland and N2O emissions

from land-use conversions to cropland

Estimates annual change in carbon stocks in living biomass based on: annual area of

cropland with perennial woody biomass and annual growth rate of perennial woody

biomass and deducting the harvest of biomass carbon

Estimates annual change in carbon stocks in organic soils based on: estimates of land

area under organic soils and emission factor for organic soils subjected to cultivation

Estimates annual change in carbon stocks in living biomass, mineral soils and organic

soils for different land categories converted to cropland

Estimates annual emission of N2O from mineral soils due to addition of N (in the form

of fertilizer, manure and crop residue) and N released by soil organic matter

mineralization

Grassland definition

Grassland: rangelands and pasture land that is not forest

land or cropland. (Pasture lands with woody vegetation

below the threshold used in the forest land category and

not expected to exceed it without human intervention are

included).

Not all grassland is managed. For example, extensive areas of tundra can

be considered un-managed grassland. Managed grassland experience

disturbances, namely fires, but these tend to be associated with

management practices rather than natural events and are therefore mainly

anthropogenic emissions or removals and reported as such using the

managed land proxy.

Features of Grasslands

Carbon stocks in grasslands are influenced by human activities and

natural disturbances, including harvesting of woody biomass,

rangeland degradation, grazing, fires, rehabilitation, pasture

management, etc.; BGB, including root biomass and soil organic

matter, dominates grasslands

Estimates annual change in carbon stocks in living biomass and soil

carbon (mineral soils and cultivated organic soils) in grassland

remaining grassland and lands converted to grassland

IPCC provides methodology for estimating non-CO2 emissions from

vegetation fires based on: area of grassland burnt, mass of available

fuel, combustion efficiency and emission factor for each GHG from

grassland remaining grassland and land converted to grassland

Wetlands definition

Wetland: land covered or saturated by water for all or

part of the year and that does not fall into thincludes bare

soil, rock, ice, and all unmanaged land areas that do not

fall into any of the e forest land, cropland, grassland or

settlements categories.

Wetlands naturally emit and remove GHG, providing a background of

natural fluxes against which the direct human impact can be difficult to assess.

Wetlands (notably peat lands) contain significant stocks of carbon (Tarnocai C. 2009)

which could be released through the impact of indirect human-induced impacts

(climate change) with fluxes potentially greater than those resulting from direct

human activities. Wetlands differ from other lands in that the greenhouse gas fluxes

appear to be significantly affected by lateral fluxes of water, carbon and nutrients

from adjacent lands.

Features of wetlands

Includes land that is covered or saturated by water for all or part of the

year and that does not fall into forest and other categories

For GHG inventory, it is necessary to distinguish between managed and

unmanaged wetlands

Methodology for estimating GHGs for ‘wetlands remaining wetlands’ is

given in the appendix and for GHGs from ‘lands converted to wetlands’ in

the main text

Estimates changes in carbon stocks in lands converted to wetlands due to

peat extraction and land converted to flooded land

Estimates N2O emissions from peatland drainage and flooded lands and

CH4 emissions from flooded land

Estimates annual change in carbon stocks in living biomass in lands

converted to flooded lands

Settlements definitions

Settlements: all developed land, including transportation

infrastructure and human settlements of any size, unless

they are already included under other categories. This

should be consistent with the selection of national

definitions.

Features of Settlements

This includes all classes of urban tree formation and village

trees

Provides methodology for estimating CO2 emissions and

removals for ‘lands converted to settlements’ and for

‘settlements remaining settlements’ (in the appendix)

Methods for estimating annual change in carbon stocks in

living biomass in ‘forest lands converted to settlements’

based on area of land converted and carbon stock in living

biomass immediately before and after conversion to

settlements

Definition of Other lands

Other lands: This category includes bare soil, rock,

ice, and all unmanaged land areas that do not fall

into any of the other five categories.

The other lands category is assumed not to be a significant carbon pool. Hence

significant greenhouse gas emissions do not occur in this category except if land

changes to or from this category from or to another category. Therefore the issue

of separating anthropogenic from natural emissions is not relevant.

Features of Other lands

Includes bare soil, rock, ice and all unmanaged land areas

that do not fall into any other land-use category

Changes in carbon stocks and non-CO2

emissions/removals need not be assessed for category of

‘other land remaining other land’

Methodology provided for estimating annual change in

carbon stocks in ‘land converted to other land’ based on

estimates of change in carbon stocks in living biomass

and SOC

Important notice…

Classify land under only one category to prevent double counting.

It is good practice to combine or disaggregate the existing land classes of a land-use classification in order to use the categories presented here, and to report on the procedure adopted.

It is good practice to specify national definitions for all categories used in the inventory and report any threshold or parameter values used in the definitions.

Representing land-use areas

Three approaches that may be used to represent areas of

land use using the categories

Approaches are differentiated by increasing information

content.

The Approaches are not presented as hierarchical tiers

and do not imply any increase or decrease in accuracy but

reflect collection methods and attributes and, therefore,

appropriate ways to use the data

Approach 1 (BASIC LAND-USE DATA)

Represents land-use area totals within a defined spatial unit, which is often defined by political boundaries, such as a country, province or municipality.

Another characteristic of Approach 1 data is that only the net changes in land-use area can be tracked through time;

Consequently, the exact location or pattern of the land uses is not known within the spatial unit, and moreover the exact changes in land-use categories cannot be ascertained.

Approach 1 (BASIC LAND-USE DATA)

Determination of the area of land-use conversion in each ca tegory is based on the difference in area at two points in time, either with partial or full land area coverage;

No specification of inter-category conversions (i.e., ‘land remaining in a land-use category’ and ‘land converted to a new land-use category’) is possible under Approach 1 unless supplementary data are available

Land-use area data may come originally from periodic sample survey data, maps or censuses (such as landowner surveys), but will probably not be spatially explicit.

Approach 1 (BASIC LAND-USE DATA)

Approach 2 total land-use area, incl. changes

between categories

Approach 2 differs from Approach 1 in that it includes information on conversions between categories, but is still only tracking those changes without spatially-explicit location data, often based on political boundaries (i.e., locations of specific land use and land-use conversions are not known);

Tracking land-use conversions in this manner will normally require estimation of initial and final land-use categories for all conversion types, as well as of total area of unchanged land by category;

Final results of this Approach can be presented as a non-spatially-explicit land-use conversion matrix.

Total land-use area, including changes

between categories

Approach 3 Spatially-explicit land-use

conversion data

Approach 3 is characterized by spatially-explicit observations of

land-use categories and land-use conversions, often tracking

patterns at specific point locations and/or using gridded map

products, such as derived from remote sensing imagery;

The data may be obtained by various sampling, wall-to-wall

mapping techniques, or combination of the two methods.

The main advantage of spatially-explicit data is that analysis

tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be

used to link multiple spatially-explicit data sets (such as those

used for stratification) and describe in detail the conditions on

a particular piece of land prior to and after a land-use

conversion.

Spatially-explicit land-use

conversion data

Approach 3 spatially-explicit land-use

conversion data (gis)

Approach 3 Spatially-explicit land-use

conversion data (gis)

Approaches

Approach 1

Applied when data do not identify land use/management conversions, although

the net area change of the total area of each land category between two

consecutive inventory years is available.

Approach 2/3:

Applied when data identify land use/management conversions between two

consecutive inventory years (with approach 3, this information is also spatially

allocated, like in a digital map or across a net of sample points).

Considering that a GHG inventory is composed of a number of annual

estimates (time series), the land representation is expected to provide activity

data for the entire time series.

Using the below timeline we will examine changes in land use over time on a

territory composed by three units of land (strata).

Managed Forest

land

Improved

Grassland

Cropland -

Agroforestry Base

year:

e.g.

1990 Reporting

year: e.g.

2020

During 1990-1995, forest land was converted to grassland

on unit of land 1 (1 kha), and grassland was converted to

forest land on unit of land 3. In 2015, cropland was

converted to forest land on unit of land 2. No land use

changes occurred between 1995 and 2015.

Cropland

(CL)

Forest Land

(FL)

Grassland

(GL)

Approach 1

Data is not spatially

explicit: no track of land

use/management

through time.

Methodological approaches

Data show land use/

management change

between 2 points in

time (but do not track

land over the entire

time series).

Approach 2

Data provide spatially-

explicit information on

the use/management

of land over the entire

time series.

Approach 3

Land representation of

project activities

Land representation of project activities

The land representation of project activities (including REDD+ activities) follows the same

approaches as described in the previous pages. However, approach 1 is generally not suitable

for project activities as it does not identify changes in the management practices, while

changes in practices are the main objective of project activities.

When preparing the land representation of project activities care should be put in

defining the boundaries:

- spatial boundaries

- temporal boundaries

Indeed, a project activity has a limited time frame, and it may cover not all land use categories

so that a change in the use of a land may determine the exclusion of the land from the activity’s

boundaries.

For instance, a project activity to reduce deforestation is implemented across the entire

national territory, although the monitoring is limited to forest land. Therefore, any land

conversion of forest to other land uses causes the exclusion of the land from the project

boundaries with the consequent exclusion of all GHG emissions and removals that would occur

on the land in the years subsequent to the conversion year and that are part of the conversion

process.

Land representation of project activities

It is therefore good practice that once a land is

included in the project boundaries, it remained

included until the end of the activity and GHG

emissions and removals associated with the land

were estimated and reported across the entire

implementation period of the activity.

When this is not possible, an option would be to report at

once the total GHG emissions and removals associated

with the entire conversion process.

Under the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement countries have agreed to recognize and support

mitigation actions in the forest sector implemented in developing countries:

• Reducing emissions from deforestation;

• Reducing emissions from forest degradation

• Conservation of forest carbon stocks;

• Sustainable management of forests;

• Enhancement of forest carbon stocks;

Although these activities may cover only a portion of the forest-related IPCC

NGHGI categories (e.g. REDD+ sustainable forest management activities may have been

implemented in an portion of the national forest land), their impact (GHG emissions and

removals) is estimated by applying the same IPCC methodologies applied for

NGHGI through stratification.

Stratification within the NGHGI categories ensures full consistency of REDD+

GHG estimates with NGHGI and IPCC guidelines and it also avoids double

counting of GHG emissions and removals.

NGHGIs, Paris Agreement and REDD+

NGHGIs, Paris Agreement and REDD+

Once REDD+ activities will cover the entire forest area of a country,

NGHGI categories do not need to be stratified anymore since the

GHG estimates of the forest-related NGHGI categories properly report

GHG emissions and removals associated with REDD+ activities.

In practice, when GHG emissions and removals from the following

NGHGI categories are reported:

• Forest land remaining forest land;

• Land converted to forest land;

• Forest land converted to other uses of land,

these GHG estimates may be readily used for accounting for the

results of the implementation of REDD+ activities.

Thank you!

Tomasz Kowalczewski, Paolo Prosperi