The Carbon Benefits Project: Modelling, Measurement and Monitoring

Approximately 30% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come from land use and land use change. Sustainable land management (SLM) projects have the potential to not only reduce GHG emissions, by reducing emissions from biomass burning, biomass decomposition and the decomposition of soil organic matter, but also to sequester carbon (C) through practices that increase biomass production and promote the build up of soil organic matter and therefore provide global environmental benefits.

The Carbon Benefits Project aims to develop scientifically rigorous, cost-effective tools to establish carbon benefits of sustainable land management (SLM) interventions in terms of protected or enhanced carbon stocks and reduced greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. The new tool will (1) estimate and model carbon stocks and flows and GHG emissions under present and alternative management, and (2) measure and monitor carbon changes under specified land use and management.

A standard protocol is being developed that will be applicable to all projects involving interventions in natural resources management, such as forestry, agroforestry, agriculture and pasture management in all climate zones, soils types and land uses. The suite of tools, with instructions on how to use them, will be available from a single website.

Integrated WebsiteThe product of the effort will be a modular, web-based system that allows the user to collate, store, analyze, report and project carbon and total GHG benefits in a standard and comprehensive manner. A standardized C benefits protocol will allow the comparison of different SLM projects by the GEF and other donors. It would also bring developing countries closer to being able to gain reward for land management activities that sequester carbon.

www.unep.org/climatechange/carbon-benefit/

• Baseline scenarios are what would happen in the absence of intervention, but are also dynamic. Emissions can vary substantially depending on land management practices. Examples include grazing intensity, fire management, selective cutting in woodlands, etc.

The modelling system provides project-scale estimates of all major sources and sinks of GHGs related to land use, including soil and biomass C stocks, soil N2O and CH4 emissions, enteric CH4 and emissions (N2O, CH4) from manure and biomass burning. The system consists of a set of linked modules which allow the user to collate, store, analyze, project and report C stock changes and GHG emissions for baseline and project scenarios in NRM interventions in a standardized way.

Modelling System Overview

Project Description

Module

Guidance Module

Reporting Module

Calculation ModuleEx ante modelIPCC models

GEFSOC models

Activity DataModule

SocioeconomicModule

DataModels

Measurement ModuleRemote Sensing,

Ground-based

Measurement Protocol Module

System FeaturesThe system features a graphical user interface to process spatial data (e.g. land cover and land use, soil maps, etc.) and provides for detailed management information with pull down menus.

Users may choose between simple or more complex estimates, involving Tier I or Tier II IPCC-based methods and/or direct measurements from the project area. Pull-down menu options facilitate entry of detailed management input. The system features a socio-economic assessment utilizing DPSIR, and a cost-benefit analysis tool. It produces a standard summary report of GHG benefits resulting from land management interventions with associated levels of uncertainty. There is also an option to produce a more detailed output which includes data downloads for further analysis.

Left: Water harvesting technique in Niger-Nigeria Joint Commission GEF project.

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Below : Farmers assess soil erosion and agroforestry techniques in the Kenya KAPP-SLM GEF project

The modelling team is collaborating with four existing GEF SLM projects in China, Kenya, the Niger/Nigeria transboundary region and a non-GEF project in Brazil. These projects vary in size (from landscape scale projects at 80,000 km2 to pilot plot scale at 12km2). The projects cover a range of NRM interventions (conservation agriculture, agro-forestry, wetland protection, grassland management).

Existing SLM Project Partners

For further information about the Carbon Benefits Project, please email Dr Eleanor Milne eleanor.milne@colostate.edu

Colorado State University

The measurement system provides the means to measure carbon stocks and stock changes directly using a combination of remote sensing observations, ground calibration, and web enable geographic information systems. The system also provides estimates of CH4 and N2O from direct field and remote sensing measurements. This approach allows for large area landscape assessments of carbon for REDD, A/R, and Agro-forestry systems at very high spatial resolution.

Measurement System Overview

System FeaturesThe system comprises four GIS-based modules of an MRV System for 1) ex-ante projections, 2) REDD carbon measurement, 3) A/R carbon measurement, 4) landscape carbon benefits for biomass and soils.

MRV System: reforestation project page MRV System: plot level reforestation data page

Laser caliper to measure branches in tree crowns

REDD Forest monitoring and change detection in Mau Forest, Kenya.

Relationship between crown projection area, DBH and tCO2e

Automated detection and measurement of tree crowns in forests and agricultural landscapes

Mid-infrared spectroscopy for soil carbon measurement

New allometric equations based on whole tree harvest in Kenya

MRV ModuleREDD & A/R

Carbon Benefits

MRV System: carbon benefits reporting page