Carbon Inventory Methods

Introduction. Carbon dioxide emissions and removals from land-use sectors ; Mitigation opportunities and potential in land-use sectors ; Linkages between mitigation and adaptation ; Why carbon inventory? ; Carbon inventory methods and guidelines ; Purpose, organization and target groups for the handbook -- Global carbon cycle, carbon dioxide emissions and mitigation. Carbon stocks and fluxes ; Anthropogenic CO2 emissions ; CO2 concentration in the atmosphere ; Carbon stocks in vegetation and soils of different biomes ; CO2 emissions from land-use sectors ; Mitigation potential in the land-use sectors ; Conclusions -- Categories of activities, programmes and projects requiring carbon inventory. National greenhouse gas inventory ; Carbon inventory for climate change mitigation projects and programmes ; Carbon inventory for Clean Development Mechanism projects ; Carbon inventory for projects under the Global Environment Facility (GEF) ; Carbon inventory for forest, grassland and cropland development programmes and projects ; Conclusions -- Carbon pools and measurement frequency for carbon inventory. Feature of carbon pools ; Criteria for selection of carbon pools ; Key carbon pools for different programmes and projects ; Frequency of monitoring of carbon pools ; Conclusions -- Carbon inventory in project development, implementation and monitoring phases. Project conceptualization ; Project proposal development phase ; Project review, appraisal and approval phase ; Project implementation phase ; Project monitoring phase ; Project evaluation phase ; Carbon mitigation and non-carbon land development projects : implications for carbon inventory during project cycle ; Conclusions -- Methodological issues in land-based projects. Baseline ; Additionally (UNFCCC) or incrementality (GEF) ; Permanence ; Leakage ; Project boundary ; Scale of the project ; Conclusions -- Carbon inventory under baseline and project scenarios. Broad approaches to estimating carbon stocks ; Carbon inventory under baseline scenario ; Carbon inventory under project scenario ; Summary of methods -- Techniques for estimation and monitoring of project areas and boundary. Approach to selecting a method ; Ground methods ; Remote sensing methods ; Estimating and monitoring land-use change ; Conclusions -- Generic methods for inventory of carbon pools. Approaches to estimating carbon stock changes ; Methodological options for estimating carbon pools ; Methods for estimating above-ground biomass ; Estimation of below-ground biomass or root biomass ; Estimation of litter and deadwood biomass ; Estimation of soil organic carbon ; Conclusions -- Methods for estimating above-ground biomass. Selection of land-use category, project activity or vegetation type ; Definition of the project boundary and mapping of the land-use category or projected area ; Stratification of the project area or land-use category ; Selection of a method for estimation of above-ground biomass : the "plot method" ; Selection of appropriate frequency of measurement for the above-ground biomass pool ; Identification of the parameters to be measured for estimating the above-ground biomass pool ; Selection of sampling method and sample size ; Preparation for fieldwork and recording of information ; Sampling design ; Location and laying of sample plots ; Field measurement of indicator parameters ; Recording data and compilation ; Long-term monitoring for above-ground biomass ; Conclusions --