Carbon Balance and Management blog

Towards a better understanding of the climate benefits of European forests

Georgii Alexandrov — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 09:46:00 +0000

European forests are expanding. This trend, observed over the last two decades, suggests that European forests already serve to mitigate climate change by providing a sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide. The sink could be enhanced through forest management if it was tailored to fit such goal.

There are basically two strategies for managing expanding European forests: one may increase either the stock of wood or its annual increment. The stock of wood increases with forest age. In Europe, where most forests are managed, the forest age depends on the length of harvest cycles. Delayed harvest increases the carbon sink with an annual magnitude that lies in the range of 1–2% of the baseline carbon stock [1].

The harvest, however, cannot be delayed indefinitely: trees are not immortal, and hence they should be harvested before stand break-up (the stage when a large portion of trees dies within a short period of time due to age-related causes). The annual increment of wood peaks much earlier than stand break-up begins. Therefore, the maximum available stock of wood and the maximum available increment of wood cannot be achieved at the same harvest age. Maximization of the stock and maximization of its increment are mutually exclusive goals. This raises an important question: Which of them is more appropriate to the task of enhancing the forest carbon sink? The answer to this question could be found in the paper [2] that appeared in Carbon Balance and Management.

The climatic effects of afforestation are not limited to removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Expanding European forests changes the physical characteristics of the land surface controlling the energy and water exchange between the land and the atmosphere, and thus may either amplify or reduce the local effects of global warming. Another paper [3] that appeared in Carbon Balance and Management shows that the regional expansion of forests may reduce the effects of global warming in some places of Europe.

The idea that afforestation may change local climate is two hundred year old. In 1809, V. Ia. Lomikovskii planted tall trees around plowed fields in the Poltava Province of Ukraine. The scientific principles of protective afforestation were elaborated by V. V. Dokuchaev and G. N. Vysotskii at the end of the 19th century [4]. An impressive experiment, known as the Stalin’s plan for the transformation of nature [5], was done in the middle of the past century. However, there were little or no efforts to evaluate the validity of the idea with climate models, and so one would be interested to see model projections of how the climate may change in Poltava if European forests will expand to their natural extent [3].

It seems that these two papers [2-3] could be a good start for a thematic series, that would pull together various research and give us a better understanding of the climate benefits of European forests. We are now inviting submissions to add to this series, and to further our understanding of the climate benefits of afforestation.

[1] Georgii A Alexandrov. Carbon stock growth in a forest stand: the power of age. Carbon Balance and Management 2007, 2:4 [http://www.cbmjournal.com/content/2/1/4]

[2] Georg E Kindermann, Stefan Schörghuber, Tapio Linkosalo, Anabel Sanchez, Werner Rammer, Rupert Seidl and Manfred J Lexer. Potential stocks and increments of woody biomass in the European Union under different management and climate scenarios. Carbon Balance and Management 2013, 8:2 [http://www.cbmjournal.com]

[3] Borbala Galos, Stefan Hagemann, Andreas Haensler, Georg Kindermann, Diana Rechid, Kevin Sieck, Claas Teichmann and Daniela Jacob. Case study for the assessment of the biogeophysical effects of a potential afforestation in Europe. Carbon Balance and Management 2013, 8:3 [http://www.cbmjournal.com]

[4] P. D. Nikitin. Polezaschitnoe lesorazvedenie. Big Soviet Encyclopedia. [http://bse.sci-lib.com/article090695.html], (in Russian).

[5] Stephen Brain. The Great Stalin Plan for the Transformation of Nature. Environmental History 2010, 15 (4): 670-700.

400 ppm

Georgii Alexandrov — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 04:54:14 +0000

The carbon dioxide concentration over the Arctic reached 400 ppm [1]. The globally average carbon dioxide concentration will pass the 400 mark within few year. “This is the first time the entire Arctic is that high,” Pieter Tans said in the interview to the Washington Post [2], and called reaching this level "depressing".

It is not clear, however, whether 400 ppm is merely a psychological milestone, or a scientific one. The current understanding of carbon-climate-human system does not allow to make a definite conclusion about the most probable scenario of world development based on the fact of passing this impressive mark.

[1] NOAA: Carbon dioxide levels reach milestone at Arctic sites, http://researchmatters.noaa.gov/news/Pages/arcticCO2.aspx

[2] Seth Borenstein, When hitting 400 is not good: Levels of key greenhouse gas pass milestone, trouble scientists – The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/when-hitting-400-is-not-good-levels-of-key-greenhouse-gas-pass-milestone-trouble-scientists/2012/05/31/gJQAVvwP3U_story.html

The dramatic loss of carbon from soils

Georgii Alexandrov — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:29:02 +0000

UNEP Yearbook outlines the dramatic loss of carbon from soils among major emerging issues for global environment. "The flagship publication, to be launched on 13 February 2012 at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, shows that soil erosion due to traditional agriculture is occurring 100 times faster than soil’s natural formation process." [1]

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[1] http://www.unep.org/newscentre/Default.aspx?DocumentID=2667&ArticleID=9021&l=en

New thematic series to highlight the end of 2011 – UN Year of Forests

Genevieve Horne — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:21:28 +0000

2011 has been the UN International Year of Forests and to highlight this, two of BioMed Central’s open access journals, BMC Ecology and Carbon Balance and Management, have joined forces to create a thematic series showcasing the latest research into these crucial ecosystems.

The
two journals’ differing scopes are reflected in the different research
themes highlighted in the series. Co Editor-in-Chief of Carbon Balance and Management, Georgii Alexandrov, introduces the thematic series in his editorial
and discusses the importance of Land-Use/Land-Cover Change models in
setting forest conservation targets. In a separate article, BMC Ecology’s Associate Editor Olivier Honnay reviews the use of a biodiversity-ecosystem functioning perspective
in forest restoration. This approach, and its emphasis on functional
rather than taxonomic diversity, may lead to a more pragmatic approach
to forest restoration where a species’ function, rather than its origin,
is assessed when selecting tree species to include.

Non-native tree species are also discussed in research by Annabel J Porte and colleagues who studied the invasive maple species, Acer negundo,
which displays higher phenotypic plasticity than native species under
non-limiting resource environments, explaining how these trees are able
to spread throughout the resource rich forests of Europe.

Further articles published by Carbon Balance and Management in the thematic series include research by Dr Grant Domke et al. on the importance of incorporating density reductions and structural loss adjustments when assessing forest biomass and carbon stock estimates, and a timely review by Dr Martin Herold et al. discussing the best options for monitoring past carbon emissions from forest degradation.

Finally, BMC Ecology presents research
by Tiina Särkinen and colleagues on the seasonally dry tropical forests
(SDTF) of South America. Current biome maps for these areas vary
considerably and highlight the difficulty in mapping highly
discontinuous and fragmented vegetation like SDTF over large areas.
Potential new methods for modeling these areas are presented with the
hope that the generation of more reliable maps will allow further
research into these threatened forests.

Over the forthcoming months we will be adding new articles to the series and we hope you enjoy reading them and keeping up to date with developments in this important area of research.

Philippa Harris
Senior Executive Editor
BMC Ecology

Genevieve Horne
Senior Journal Development Editor
BMC Ecology and Carbon Balance and Management

The First Annual Low Carbon Earth Summit, paving the way for future low carbon policies

Genevieve Horne — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:24:37 +0000

Today marks the start of BIT’s First Annual Low Carbon Earth Summit,
held in Dalian, China. The theme of the conference is “Leading the
Green Economy, Returning to Harmony with Nature”, and it aims to promote
low carbon economies and to identify ways to play an even more active
role in control of global climate change.

This conference helps
to highlight the growing importance of policies to reduce carbon
emissions, and to encourage renewable and sustainable energy resources.
Recent research published in BioMed Central’s open access journal Carbon Balance and Management, demonstrates the timely need for these future policies. The study by Dr Kutsch et al.
suggests that stopping or reducing deforestation in Zambia would be
beneficial, but that the local people then experience a “Charcoal trap” -
where woodlands and forests are protected and local residents lose
their energy supply. Any investment in other energy supplies requires
high investment which many countries cannot afford.

To
help drive the decrease of carbon emissions and using the Miombo
forests in Zambia as an example, preferably policies need to be
introduced to assist poorer countries with preserving their forests and
provide help with the finance and technology required to switch to a
different energy supply. Alternatively, initiatives could help improve
post-harvest management and charcoal production technology. These kind
of approaches, applied worldwide, could then lead to substantially
reduced net greenhouse gas emissions.

Another study by Dr Eduard Merger and Dr Till Pistorius, also in Carbon Balance and Management, discusses the importance of agreed standards in the over-the-counter carbon market
to secure the integrity of the mitigation projects and to ensure the
quality of the carbon credits. The variety of different standards can
cause confusion but the pressure from the institutional environment on
standards helps to ensure a minimum quality of credits which aids the
integrity of standards. In essence, the forest sector in this market
provides great opportunities for lessons for international climate
policy when designing forest regulations.

The topic of carbon
emissions and how to effectively manage the world’s resources
sustainably is an increasingly important one and so BIT’s First Annual Low Carbon Earth Summit
is very timely. We hope that this conference paves the way for new
policies and initiatives to tackle this very important issue, and we
look forward to the results.

Invitation to submit to the new thematic series “Forests: looking to the Future”

Genevieve Horne — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 10:30:31 +0000

In a bid to increase awareness of sustainable management and development
of the world’s forests, the UN has declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests. To mark this occasion, Carbon Balance and Management and BMC Ecology
are co-publishing a thematic series entitled ‘Forests: Looking to the
Future’ to showcase the latest forestry research and published content
in both journals.

For
the series we will consider manuscripts on topics ranging from carbon
cycling and climate change, to deforestation and long term reforestation
strategies. We would like to welcome original research, reviews,
database, methodology, and software articles that address these topics.
The series will be presented on its own dedicated webpage.

The deadline for submissions is the 14th August and so please do submit
your manuscript to one of these journals using their respective online
submission systems, and indicate that you wish to be considered for the
series in your covering letter. For guidelines on formatting your
manuscript for submission, please refer to the instructions for authors and for any questions regarding the thematic series or the journals please do contact us.

This
thematic series promises to be an interesting and timely collection to
coincide with the the UN Year of Forests and we look forward to
receiving your manuscripts.

Planet under Pressure Conference

Georgii Alexandrov — Mon, 02 May 2011 09:15:09 +0000

Rik Leemans and Oran Young take part in organizing Planet Under Pressure conference (26-29 March 2012, London) [1]. One of the conference themes is how to meet humanity’s growing needs, while also safeguarding the planet’s capacity to deliver a broad range of ecosystem services including carbon storage and climate regulation. The conference is to provide scientific leadership for the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development – Rio+20.

[1] http://www.planetunderpressure2012.net/

Should we reserve carbon dioxide monitoring for scientists?

Georgii Alexandrov — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 01:04:41 +0000

Pieter Tans in the interview to the New York Times [1] said that he was cautiously optimistic about the new commercial venture of the Earth Networks. (This company is going to deploy a network of 100 greenhouse gas sensors around the planet for pinpointing emissions sources.) Emissions sooner or later are going to be worth money, and therefore transparency of the monitoring system does matter. Currently all greenhouse gas data and model results from the NOAA lab that Dr. Tans works in are freely available. He is worried that a portion of the transparency may disappear, when data will be provided by a commercial company.

[1] Tom Zeller. Weather Monitoring Company Turns to Greenhouse Gases. New York Times, January 12, 2011.

REDD+ national levels – which is the best?

Georgii Alexandrov — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 05:52:45 +0000

COP16 provides a good opportunity to define the steps leading to a treaty on policy approaches and positive incentives on issues relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries; and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (aka ‘REDD+’).

UN-REDD Programme hosts today a session where high-level representatives from REDD+ countries, the World Bank and the UN agencies discuss the meaningful partnership inroads being made to advance REDD+ efforts and what countries can learn from each other. [1]

REDD+ could contribute to the mitigation of climate change only if various methodological issues are resolved [2]. The very important of them now is how to set country-specific reference levels — that is, the levels below which the countries’ reduced emissions could be measured and credited. Several articles published in CBM form a diversity of ideas which is essential for developing a set of options from which REDD+ countries may choose. Below is the list of papers organized in the form of a book content that might stimulate the authors of the cited articles to express their collective views in a book or in a position paper.

REDD+ national levels

Which is the best? – Umemya et al.

Which is biodiversity friendly? – Paoli et al.

Which is more operational? – Maniatis & Mollicone

Which is fair? - Obersteiner et al.

Which is critical? - Kohl et al.

Which is less expensive? – Bottcher et al.

Which is more observable? – Goetz et al.

Which is more applicable? - Huettner et al.

Which is less risky? – Hurteau et al.

What is the purpose? – Gurney & Raymond

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[1] Delivering as One: Partnerships for REDD+ (CEB side event). UN-REDD Programme Newsletter 2010: 14

[2] Umemiya C, Amano M, Wilamart S: Assessing data availability for the development of REDD-plus national reference levels, Carbon Balance and Management 2010, 5:6

Global carbon budget updated to year 2009

Georgii Alexandrov — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 02:45:38 +0000

Pep Canadell informs that the Global Carbon Project has released the new global carbon budget updated to year 2009, inclusive [1].

The annual growth rate of atmospheric CO₂ was 1.6 ppm in 2009, below the average for the period 2000-2008 of 1.9 ppm per year. Fossil fuel CO₂ emissions decreased by 1.3% in 2009, with a total of 8.4±0.5 PgC emitted to the atmosphere. The abrupt decline in fossil fuel emissions by 1.3% in 2009 is indisputably the result of the global financial crisis (GFC), however, the decline was smaller than anticipated, and the emissions are expected to return to the high growth rates we have seen throughout the 2000s of at least 3% per year.

The biggest increase in fossil fuel emissions in recent years took place in developing countries (with close to 6 billion people) while emissions from developed countries (with less than 1 billion people), on average, show rather steady emissions for the last decade. However, emissions of a number of developed countries declined abruptly in 2009 (USA −6.9%, UK −8.6%, Germany −7%, Japan −11.8%, Russia −8.4%), while emerging economies continued to display rapid growth (China +8%, India +6.2%, South Korea +1.4%).

Land use change was responsible for estimated net emissions of 1.1±0.7 PgC per year for the decade of 2000s; this is about a 25% decline from the emissions of 1.5 PgC during the 1990s.

Natural land and ocean CO₂ sinks removed 57% of all CO₂ emitted from human activities during the 1958-2009, each sink in roughly equal proportion. During this period, the size of the natural sinks has grown almost at the same pace as the growth in emissions, although year-to-year variability is large.

[1] Global Carbon Project (2010) Carbon budget and trends 2009. http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/carbonbudget