Greenhouse Gas Reductions and Credits Through Biodiversity Conservation Projects

1
Greenhouse Gas Reductions and Credits Through
Biodiversity Conservation Projects

• Project ON ENV (99) 450
• Ontario Ministry of the Environment
• ArborVitae Environmental Services Ltd.
• Woodrising Consulting Inc.

2
Kyoto Protocol

• Greenhouse Gases
• CO2, CH4, N2O, seven others
• Fossil fuels
• Landfill gases, manure
• Agricultural practices
• Afforestation, Reforestation and Deforestation
  (ARD) since 1990

3
Canadas Greenhouse Gas Emissions
4
Ontarios Greenhouse Gas Emissions
5
Implications

• Carbon Constraints
• Emission Reduction Trading
• internationally (JI, CDM)
• domestically
• Value
• current, 1 - 5 / tCO2
• future 10 - 20 / t CO2

6
Emission Reduction Trading

• Lowest cost
• Promotes technology, energy efficiency,
  conservation
• Fund biodiversity and conservation projects

7
Afforestation, Reforestation, and Deforestation

• Deforestation
• Forest ? non-forest
• Afforestation
• never-forest ? forest
• Reforestation
• once-forest ? forest

8
Forestry Carbon Cycle
Atmosphere
Other Vegetation
Landfill
Soil
9
Typical Values

• Mature Forest 1,500 t CO2/ha
• Trees 56
• Roots 8
• Litter 10
• Soil 34

10
Typical Storage
11
Typical Sequestration
12
Offset Project

• Real
• Additional / Surplus
• Measurable
• Verifiable
• Unique

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Real and Additional

• Net Emission Reductions
• emissions from implementation
• leakage
• Beyond Business-As-Usual
• baseline

14
Measurable and Verifiable

• Sample
• diameters, heights, species of trees
• litter
• soil
• Model
• yield curves
• biomass decay rates

15
Offset Design Issues

• Tree Species Selection
• Permanency
• fire, pests, landowners
• Liability
• Precision of Estimate
• Frequency of Measurement

16
Kyoto Issues

• What is a forest ?
• What is included?
• Other activities ?
• Soil management
• Forest management
• Is forestry eligible for CDM ?