Working through land choice policy issues
Important policy decisions regarding activities and definitions of Land Use, Land-use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector constantly need to be made by parties in the Kyoto Protocol (KP). These decisions are complex since they have to take many factors into account. Such factors include scientific understanding, requirements within the KP, environmental integrity, practical applicability and cost effectiveness. In order to fulfill the requirements of Articles 3.3 and 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol and additional decisions in the Marrakech Accords (MA), each party involved must meet certain obligations. In fact, the requirements need to be met by year-end. One of these requirements is that they need to form a single definition of the term forest. To do this, they need to take certain factors into account. These include a minimum tree crown cover threshold, a minimum land area threshold, a minimum tree height threshold and a minimum width. Additionally, they need to choose any or all human-induced activities under Article 3.4 within the first commitment period. Such activities include re-vegetation, forest management, cropland management, and grazing land management. The parties were asked to define forest management under their natural circumstances. The workshop provided a review of scientific issues and a practical guidance for estimating carbon benefits and their uncertainty ranges. Some of the other areas it offered assistance were in monitoring/data collection and reporting costs and in showing trade-offs and synergies with other objectives, such as environmental or socio-economic considerations. All the decisions that need to be made could have an impact in the future because of their potential long-term reporting requirements for lands once entered within the Kyoto Protocol reporting system.
