Tree planting to offset CO2 emissions

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Tree planting to offset CO2 emissions

• Danida Development Days 2008
• (Lars Graudal, Forest Landscape)

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• IPCC - Key mitigation technologies and practices
  currently commercially available
• Increased tree planting, including for bioenergy
• Better forest management and harvesting
• Reduced deforestation
• IPCC key mitigation technologies and practices
  projected to be commercialized before 2030
• Tree species improvement to increase biomass
  productivity and carbon sequestration.
• Improved remote sensing technologies for analysis
  of vegetation/ soil carbon sequestration
  potential and mapping land use change

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Is tree planting an efficient means to offset CO2
emissions?

• Claimed as a possible quick fix for a couple of
  decades, but
• How large and how certain are the climate change
  benefits really?
• Of minor importance compared to the effects of
  deforestation? better to eliminate the problem
  at the source than to compensate?
• What about the social and environmental impacts
  of plantations?

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1. How large and how certain are the climate
change benefits?

• Trees take too long to make a difference
• No, plantations are actually very efficient for
  production
• Trees do not last, so the value is not permanent
• Yes, but credits can be designed to take that
  into consideration

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1. How large and how certain are the climate
change benefits?

• Forests may in fact contribute to global warming
• No net-cooling may be reduced in boreal and
  temperate areas due to reduced albedo (Bala et al
  2007) and methane production associated with
  growth is minimal (Polglase et al 2008)

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Combined climate and carbon-cycle effects of
large scale deforestation
Albedo gt CO2 (Barren soils)
Boreal deforestation case (C) Cooling biophysical
effects of deforestation dominate the climate
response
Temperate deforestation case (D), Strong local
cooling responses, although the global-mean
response is near zero
Albedo CO2
Tropical deforestation case (E) The carbon-cycle
effects of warming overwhelm the biophysical
effects with slight local cooling
responses from the biophysical effects.
Albedo lt CO2 (Clouds)
G. Bala et al.. PNAS published online Apr 9, 2007.
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Polglase et al 2008
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1. How large and how certain are the climate
change benefits?

• Carbon credits cannot be properly verified
• They can, but there is a need for standardisation
  and regulation

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Economics of forest projects to create carbon
credits under Kyoto

• Conditions under which forest activities generate
  CO2-emission reduction offsets at competitive
  prices reviewed by van Kooten and Sohngen
  (2007)
• 68 studies of the costs of creating carbon
  offsets using forestry
• Baseline estimates of costs of sequestering
  carbon are some US3280 per tCO2
• Intensive plantations in the tropics could
  potentially yield positive benefits to society
  (cf. also Benitez et al.)

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2. Tree planting of minor importance compared to
the effects of deforestation better to
eliminate at the source than compensate

• Not a sustainable strategy
• Correct viewed in isolation. Of course energy
  consumption and pollution needs to be addressed.
  But tree planting can be an important element in
  a sustainable strategy
• Better to prevent deforestation
• Yes, but we need to do both. And reforestation
  may help to reduce deforestation by producing
  more on less land and provide substitution for
  more energy demanding products.

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Plantations Climate Change
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3. What about the social and environmental
impacts of plantations?

• Plantations are bad for biodiversity and the
  local environment
• May be true for some commercial plantations but
  not for tree-planting overall and not for well
  designed/regulated carbon credit supported
  projects
• Plantations often have negative social impacts
• Has nothing to do with tree planting per se.
  All development projects should ensure that
  social criteria are met.

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Combining carbon credit with social and
environmental forestry

• Some studies
• Carbon stock and sequestration potential of
  traditional and improved agroforestry systems in
  the West African Sahel (Takimoto et al 2008)
• Small-scale forest carbon projects Adapting CDM
  to low-income communities (Boyd et al 2007)
• The potential of urban tree plantings to be cost
  effective in carbon credit markets (McHale et al
  2007)
• Community and farm forestry climate mitigation
  projects case studies from Uttaranchal, India
  (Hooda et al 2007)
• Smallholder agroforestry systems for carbon
  storage (Roshetko et al 2005)
• Potential carbon mitigation and income in
  developing countries from changes in use and
  management of agricultural and forest lands
  (Niles et al 2002)
• Carbon mitigation potential and costs of forestry
  options in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia,
  Mexico, the Philippines and Tanzania (Sathaye et
  al 2001)

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Yes, tree planting is efficient to offset CO2
emissions

• A plantation of 100 km2 can absorb 4 million t of
  CO2 over 20 years (20t/ha/year)
• Tree planting offers wider environmental and
  socio-economic benefits in particular outside
  forests
• Carbon markets can provide an important financial
  subsidy/incentive to tree planting for various
  purposes