4

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS AND
GOOD PRACTICE GUIDANCE ARISINGFROM THE KYOTO PROTOCOLIPCC Good Practice Guidance for LULUCF

Chapter 4: Supplementary Methods and Good Practice Guidance Arising from the Kyoto Protocol

AUTHORS AND REVIEW EDITORS
Sections 4.1 – 4.2
Coordinating Lead Authors
Bernhard Schlamadinger (Austria)
Kansri Boonpragob (Thailand), Henry Janzen (Canada), Werner Kurz (Canada), Rodel Lasco (Philippines), andPete Smith (UK)

Lead Authors
Pascale Collas (Canada), El Nur Abdalla El Siddig (Sudan), Andreas Fischlin (Switzerland), Mitsuo Matsumoto(Japan), Alexander Nakhutin (Russia), Ian Noble (Australia), Gérôme Pignard (France), Zoltán Somogyi(Hungary), and Xiao-Quan Zhang (China)

Contributing Authors
Mark Easter (USA), Wojciech Galinski (Poland), Geneviève Patenaude (Canada), Keith Paustian (USA), andYoshiki Yamagata (Japan)

Review Editors
Masahiro Amano (Japan) and Eveline Trines (Netherlands)

Section 4.3
Coordinating Lead Authors
Sandra Brown (USA) and Omar Masera (Mexico)

Lead Authors
Vitus Ambia (New Papua Guinea), Barbara Braatz (USA), Markku Kanninen (Finland), Thelma Krug (Brazil),
Daniel Martino (Uruguay), Phanuel Oballa (Kenya), Richard Tipper (UK), and Jenny L. P. Wong (Malaysia)

Contributing Authors
Ben de Jong (Mexico) and David Shoch (USA)

Review Editor
Soobaraj N. Sok Appadu (Mauritius)

4.2

IPCC Good Practice Guidance for LULUCF

Chapter 4: Supplementary Methods and Good Practice Guidance Arising from the Kyoto ProtocolContents
4.1

INTRODUCTION

4.9

4.1.1

Overview of Steps to Estimating and Reporting Supplementary Information for Activities
Under Articles 3.3, 3.4, 6 and 12 .................................................................................................. 4.10

4.1.2

General Rules for Categorisation of Land Areas under Articles 3.3 and 3.4 ................................ 4.13

4.1.3

Relationship between Annex I Parties’ National Inventories and Article 6 LULUCF Projects.... 4.19

4.2

METHODS FOR ESTIMATION, MEASUREMENT, MONITORING AND REPORTING
OF LULUCF ACTIVITIES UNDER ARTICLES 3.3 AND 3.4
4.20
4.2.1

Relationship between UNFCCC Land-Use Categories and Kyoto Protocol (Articles 3.3
and 3.4) Land-Use Categories ....................................................................................................... 4.20

4.2.2

Generic Methodologies for Area Identification, Stratification and Reporting .............................. 4.23
4.2.2.1 Reporting requirements ........................................................................................................ 4.23
4.2.2.2 Reporting Methods for lands subject to Article 3.3 and Article 3.4 activities...................... 4.24
4.2.2.3 Relationship between Approaches in Chapter 2 and Reporting Methods in Chapter 4 ........ 4.25
4.2.2.4 Choice of Reporting Method ................................................................................................ 4.26
4.2.2.5 How to identify lands (units of land) in general ................................................................... 4.27

4.2.3

Generic Methodological Issues For Estimating Carbon Stock Changes And Non-CO2
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ........................................................................................................... 4.29
4.2.3.1 Pools to be reported .............................................................................................................. 4.30
4.2.3.2 Years for which to estimate carbon stock changes and non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions 4.31
4.2.3.3 Reporting and measurement intervals .................................................................................. 4.32
4.2.3.4 Choice of method ................................................................................................................. 4.32
4.2.3.5 Factoring out indirect, natural and pre-1990 effects............................................................. 4.32
4.2.3.6 Disturbances ......................................................................................................................... 4.33
4.2.3.7 Interannual variability .......................................................................................................... 4.33

4.2.4

Other Generic Methodological Issues ........................................................................................... 4.34
4.2.4.1 Developing a consistent time series...................................................................................... 4.34
4.2.4.2 Uncertainty assessment ........................................................................................................ 4.36
4.2.4.3 Reporting and documentation............................................................................................... 4.39
4.2.4.4 Quality assurance and quality control................................................................................... 4.50
4.2.4.5 Verification........................................................................................................................... 4.50

4.2.5

Afforestation and Reforestation .................................................................................................... 4.51
4.2.5.1 Definitional issues and reporting requirements .................................................................... 4.51
4.2.5.2 Choice of methods for identifying units of land subject to direct human-induced
afforestation/ reforestation.................................................................................................... 4.51
4.2.5.3 Choice of methods for estimating carbon stock changes and non-CO2 emissions ............... 4.54

4.2.6

Deforestation ................................................................................................................................. 4.56
4.2.6.1 Definitional issues and reporting requirements .................................................................... 4.56

IPCC Good Practice Guidance for LULUCF

4.3

Chapter 4: Supplementary Methods and Good Practice Guidance Arising from the Kyoto Protocol

4.2.6.2 Choice of methods for identifying units of land subject to direct human-induced
deforestation ......................................................................................................................... 4.57
4.2.6.3 Choice of methods for estimating carbon stock-changes and non-CO2 greenhouse gas
emissions .............................................................................................................................. 4.59
4.2.7

Forest Management ....................................................................................................................... 4.61
4.2.7.1 Definitional issues and reporting requirements .................................................................... 4.61
4.2.7.2 Choice of methods for identifying lands subject to forest management............................... 4.61
4.2.7.3 Choice of methods for estimating carbon stock changes and non-CO2 greenhouse gas
emissions .............................................................................................................................. 4.64

4.2.8

Cropland Management .................................................................................................................. 4.66
4.2.8.1 Definitional issues and reporting requirements .................................................................... 4.66
4.2.8.2 Choice of methods for identifying lands .............................................................................. 4.68
4.2.8.3 Choice of methods for estimating carbon stock changes and non-CO2 greenhouse gas
emissions .............................................................................................................................. 4.69

4.2.9

Grazing Land management ........................................................................................................... 4.81
4.2.9.1 Definitional issues and reporting requirements .................................................................... 4.81
4.2.9.2 Choice of methods for identifying lands .............................................................................. 4.82
4.2.9.3 Choice of methods for estimating carbon stock changes and non-CO2 greenhouse gas
emissions .............................................................................................................................. 4.83

4.2.10

Revegetation.................................................................................................................................. 4.85

4.2.10.1 Definitional issues and reporting requirements .................................................................... 4.85
4.2.10.2 Choice of methods for identifying lands .............................................................................. 4.86
4.2.10.3 Choice of methods for estimating carbon stock changes and non-CO2 greenhouse gas
emissions .............................................................................................................................. 4.86
4.3

LULUCF PROJECTS
4.3.1

4.89

Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 4.89
4.3.1.1 Definition of Projects and relevance to Articles 6 and 12 .................................................... 4.90

4.3.2

Project Boundaries ........................................................................................................................ 4.90
4.3.2.1 Geographic area.................................................................................................................... 4.90
4.3.2.2 Temporal boundaries ............................................................................................................ 4.91
4.3.2.3 Activities and practices ........................................................................................................ 4.91

4.3.3

Measuring, Monitoring, and Estimating Changes in Carbon Stocks and Non-CO2 Greenhouse
Gas Emissions ............................................................................................................................... 4.93
4.3.3.1 Baseline ................................................................................................................................ 4.94
4.3.3.2 Stratification of the project area ........................................................................................... 4.95
4.3.3.3 Selection of carbon pools and non-CO2 greenhouse gases ................................................... 4.95
4.3.3.4 Sampling design ................................................................................................................... 4.96
4.3.3.5 Field measurements and data analysis for estimating carbon stocks .................................. 4.100
4.3.3.6 Estimating changes in non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions and removals ......................... 4.106
4.3.3.7 Monitoring changes in greenhouse gas emissions and removals from project operation
practices.............................................................................................................................. 4.109
4.3.3.8 Considerations for the monitoring plan .............................................................................. 4.109

4.3.4

4.4

Quality Assurance and Quality Control Plan .............................................................................. 4.111

IPCC Good Practice Guidance for LULUCF

Chapter 4: Supplementary Methods and Good Practice Guidance Arising from the Kyoto Protocol

4.3.4.1 Procedures to ensure reliable field measurements .............................................................. 4.111
4.3.4.2 Procedures to verify field data collection ........................................................................... 4.111
4.3.4.3 Procedures to verify data entry and analysis ...................................................................... 4.111
4.3.4.4 Data maintenance and storage ............................................................................................ 4.112
Annex 4A.1

Annex 4A.2

Tool for estimation of changes in soil carbon stocks associated with managementchanges in croplands and grazing lands based on IPCC default data

4.113

Examples of allometric equations for estimating aboveground biomass andbelowground biomass of trees

4.114

References

4.117

Equations
Equation 4.2.1 Annual soil carbon emissions/removals from cropland management ........................... 4.72
Equation 4.3.1 Estimation of aboveground biomass of forests............................................................ 4.102
Equation 4.3.2 Volume of lying dead wood ........................................................................................ 4.105
Equation 4.3.3 Soil organic carbon content ......................................................................................... 4.106

IPCC Good Practice Guidance for LULUCF

4.5

Chapter 4: Supplementary Methods and Good Practice Guidance Arising from the Kyoto Protocol

FiguresFigure 4.1.1

Decision tree for classifying a unit of land under Article 3.3 (ARD) or land under
Article 3.4 (FM, CM, GM and RV) as of year X of the commitment
period (2008, 2009, …, 2012) ...................................................................................... 4.14

Figure 4.2.1

Land classification in the national inventories under the UNFCCC of a hypotheticalcountry in year X of the commitment period................................................................. 4.22

Figure 4.2.2

Land classification for Kyoto Protocol reporting for a hypothetical country inYear X of the commitment period ................................................................................ 4.22

Figure 4.2.3

Two Reporting Methods for land subject to Articles 3.3 and 3.4 activities .................. 4.24

Figure 4.2.4

Decision tree for choosing a reporting method for land subject to activities under
Articles 3.3 and 3.4........................................................................................................ 4.26

Figure 4.2.5

Decision tree for determining whether a unit of land qualifies for direct
human-induced (dhi) Afforestation/Reforestation (AR) or Revegetation (RV). ........... 4.53

Figure 4.2.6

Decision tree for determining whether a unit of land is subject to direct
human-induced (dhi) Deforestation (D) ........................................................................ 4.59

Figure 4.2.7

Relationship between different forest categories........................................................... 4.62

Figure 4.2.8

Decision tree for determining whether land qualifies as being subject to Forest
Management ................................................................................................................. 4.63

Figure 4.2.9

Decision tree for selecting the appropriate tier for estimating carbon stock changes
in mineral soils under cropland for Kyoto Protocol reporting....................................... 4.71

Figure 4.2.10 Conceptual illustration of the matrix of carbon stock change factors derived for
different land-use, land-management transitions for each set of biophysicalcombinations (Tier 1) ..................................................................................................... 4.72
Figure 4.2.11 Schematic representation of a change in soil carbon stocks after acarbon-sequestering management change is imposed. .................................................. 4.74
Figure 4.2.12 Conceptual illustration of the matrix of carbon stock change factors derived for
different land-use, land-management transitions for each set of biophysicalcombinations (Tier 2) ................................................................................................... 4.75
Figure 4.2.13 Decision tree for selecting the tier at which to report carbon stock changes inorganic soils under the Kyoto Protocol ......................................................................... 4.77

4.6

Figure 4.3.1

An example of the relationship between number of plots and precision level ............. 4.97

Figure 4.3.2

Illustration of the relationship between the magnitude of the Reliable Minimum
Estimate (RME) between Time 1 and Time 2 sampling periods and the 95%
confidence interval around the mean soil carbon content ............................................. 4.99

Figure 4.3.3

An example of how the percent absolute change in mean soil carbon (with 95%
confidence) for an afforestation project varies in relation to the sampling intervaland sample size ........................................................................................................... 4.100

IPCC Good Practice Guidance for LULUCF

Chapter 4: Supplementary Methods and Good Practice Guidance Arising from the Kyoto Protocol

TablesTable 4.1.1

Summary of the LULUCF Activities under the Kyoto Protocol and the associatedaccounting rules............................................................................................................. 4.13

Table 4.2.1

Relationship between activities under Articles 3.3 and 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol andthe basic land-use categories of Section 2.2 .................................................................. 4.21

Table 4.2.2

Relationship between Approaches in Chapter 2 and Reporting Methods in Chapter 4. 4.26

Table 4.2.3

Calendar Years for which carbon stock changes are to be reported (for each activity
and each of the five pools described above), as a function of the time when theactivity started .............................................................................................................. 4.31

Table 4.2.4a

Supplementary Inventory Information to be reported prior to 1 January 2007 or one
year after the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol for the Party, whichever is later .. 4.40

Table 4.2.4b

Supplementary Information to be reported for the annual greenhouse gas inventory
during the first commitment period according to the Marrakesh Accords. ................... 4.41

Table 4.2.5

Land transition matrix ................................................................................................... 4.44

Table 4.2.6a

Table for Reporting (AR/D/FM) ................................................................................... 4.45

Table 4.2.6b

Table for Reporting (CM/GM/RV) ............................................................................... 4.46

Table 4.2.6c

Table for Reporting (Projects)....................................................................................... 4.47

Table 4.2.7

Summary table of greenhouse gas emissions by sources and removals by sinks by
Articles 3.3, 3.4 and 6 activities for the inventory year................................................. 4.48

Table 4.2.8

Sections where methodologies can be found for estimating different carbon poolson cropland .................................................................................................................... 4.69

Table 4.3.1

A decision matrix to illustrate possible selection criteria of pools to measure andmonitor in LULUCF projects ........................................................................................ 4.96

Table 4.3.2

Possible LULUCF project practices that may result in emissions or removals of
non-CO2 greenhouse gases .......................................................................................... 4.107

Table 4.3.3

Location of IPCC default methods and data for estimation of non-CO2 greenhousegas emissions and removals......................................................................................... 4.108

Table 4.A.1

Allometric equations for estimating aboveground biomass of tropical andtemperate hardwood and pine species ......................................................................... 4.114

Table 4.A.2

Allometric equations for estimating aboveground biomass of palm trees common
in tropical humid forests of Latin America.................................................................. 4.114

Table 4.A.3

Examples of allometric equations for estimating aboveground biomass of someindividual species commonly used in the Tropics....................................................... 4.115

Table 4.A.4

Allometric equations for estimating belowground or root biomass of forests............. 4.115

IPCC Good Practice Guidance for LULUCF

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Chapter 4: Supplementary Methods and Good Practice Guidance Arising from the Kyoto Protocol

Boxes

4.8

Box 4.1.1

Examples for the assignment of units of land to Article 3.3 activities and lands to
Article 3.4 activities over time ...................................................................................... 4.17

Box 4.2.1

An example of consistency for management practices.................................................. 4.35

Box 4.2.2

Links.............................................................................................................................. 4.54

Box 4.2.3

Links.............................................................................................................................. 4.55

Box 4.2.4

Links.............................................................................................................................. 4.57

Box 4.2.5

Links.............................................................................................................................. 4.60

Box 4.2.6

Links.............................................................................................................................. 4.64

Box 4.2.7

Links.............................................................................................................................. 4.65

Box 4.2.8

An example of cropland management areas in 1990 and the commitment period(net-net accounting)....................................................................................................... 4.67

Box 4.2.9

Links.............................................................................................................................. 4.69

Box 4.2.10

Links.............................................................................................................................. 4.70

Box 4.2.11

Examples of possible influences of carbon stock changes on emissions of
non-CO2 gases ............................................................................................................... 4.80

Box 4.2.12

Links.............................................................................................................................. 4.82

Box 4.2.13

Links.............................................................................................................................. 4.83

Box 4.2.14

Links.............................................................................................................................. 4.86

Box 4.2.15

Links.............................................................................................................................. 4.87

Box 4.3.1

Afforestation or Reforestation projects ........................................................................ 4.91

Box 4.3.2

Cropland management projects: conversion from conventional to zero tillage in
agriculture ..................................................................................................................... 4.92

Box 4.3.3

Forest management projects: reduced impact logging ................................................. 4.92

Box 4.3.4

Forest improvement projects: enrichment planting on logged-over forest or
secondary growth forest ................................................................................................ 4.92

Box 4.3.5

Guidance on estimating greenhouse gas emissions from mobile sources ................... 4.109

Box 4.3.6

Monitoring projects involving multiple small-scale landholders ................................ 4.110

IPCC Good Practice Guidance for LULUCF