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The Need For Forest Carbon Accounting
 Global Climate Change
Global climate change
is one of the most important environmental challenges facing society today.
Human-induced disturbances to the global carbon
cycle - particularly the burning of fossil fuels and, to a lesser
extent, changes in land-use patterns - have led to increased concentrations
of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere. The change in concentrations is altering the global radiation
balance, which in turn is changing the global energy balance. Scientists
predict that increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations will
lead to regional and global changes in climate and climate-related parameters
such as temperature, precipitation, soil moisture, and sea level (Houghton
et al. 2002).
Climate Change and Canada’s Forests
Climate change could subject Canadian forests to more frequent, extreme
storms and wind damage, especially in coastal areas; to greater stress
due to drought; to more frequent and severe fire and insect disturbances;
and, in some areas, to increased vegetative growth rates.
While we know that Canada’s forests contain large pools of carbon
and that they play an important role in the global carbon cycle, we need
detailed, scientifically rigorous forest carbon accounting to help scientists
fully understand this role, and whether or not it is likely to change
in the future.
Changes in Forest Carbon Stocks: Canada’s Reporting Requirements
A forest exchanges carbon
dioxide (CO2), an important greenhouse gas, through the
processes of photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition, and emissions
associated with disturbances like fire, insect defoliation, and timber
harvesting. Net changes in forest carbon
stocks determine whether a forest ecosystem is a net source or a net
sink for atmospheric carbon. A forest is composed of many stands, some
of which may be carbon sinks
and some carbon sources.
Overall, it is the forest’s net carbon balance that must be accounted
by adding up the ever-changing contributions of all the stands.
Under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),
Canada is required to report changes in forest carbon stocks and non-CO2
greenhouse gas emissions resulting from forest management and land use
change (afforestation, reforestation, and deforestation) activities that
have occurred since 1990. The reporting requirement includes all areas
of managed forest as well as areas in which forest land is converted
to other land uses and areas converted from other land uses to forest.
Reference
Houghton, J.T.; Y. Ding; D.J. Griggs; M. Noguer; P.J. van der Linden;
and D. Xiaosu. 2001. Climate
change 2001: the scientific basis—contribution of Working Group
I to the third assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change. Cambridge University Press.
The National Forest Carbon Monitoring, Accounting, and Reporting System
Canada is developing the National Forest Carbon Monitoring, Accounting,
and Reporting System to:
- Meet reporting requirements such as the UNFCCC, criterian and
indicators reporting under the Montreal Protocol, reporting to the
FAO, and others;
- improve stakeholder understanding of the role of Canada’s forests
in the global carbon cycle, and
- help forest resource managers consider carbon in their forest-management
activities.
The National Forest Carbon Monitoring, Accounting, and Reporting System
incorporates information - such as forest inventories, temporary and permanent
sample plots, statistics on fires and insects, and systems quantifying
forest growth and yield - into a modelling framework designed to bring
together the best available information and scientific understanding of
the ecological processes involved in forest carbon cycling.
The National Forest Carbon Accounting Program, a national initiative
involving Canadian Forest Service scientists from across the country,
is developing the framework for the System
(Figure 1).
Key components of the System include:
Figure 1. The National Forest Carbon Monitoring, Accounting, and
Reporting System.
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