Carbon sequestration in forests as a the long-term solution for climate change mitigation

<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguwKXZ7b8NBNxm2HKaXzmvY88KzHI1ymIF907bG3Cok9PPft4jbXqS-ETGm2yfu9ZiHky1EiI0fswXlpNN3KciesFnVzIr3JGtRK6JxEeCN2Ya7UvKaJprvVfchWhvZer-5OS2xPXwndvO/s1600/natural-climate-solutions.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguwKXZ7b8NBNxm2HKaXzmvY88KzHI1ymIF907bG3Cok9PPft4jbXqS-ETGm2yfu9ZiHky1EiI0fswXlpNN3KciesFnVzIr3JGtRK6JxEeCN2Ya7UvKaJprvVfchWhvZer-5OS2xPXwndvO/s640/natural-climate-solutions.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The increase in the level of the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases has contributed to global warming which is the increase in temperature of the earth’s near-surface air and oceans(Ramachandran et al., 2008) and other associated impacts including sea ice melting and sea level rise during recent decades.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Carbon dioxide has become a major contributor to the greenhouse gas effect despite other greenhouse gases such as methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). Thereby lowering the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is set out as one of the essential global targets. The continued increase in its concentration in the atmosphere is believed to be accelerated by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation (IPCC, 2007). One of the major approaches for the lowering atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is carbon (C) sequestration in the forests, a process of removing carbon from the atmosphere and depositing it in the trees.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">According to the Kyoto Protocol (KP), carbon sequestration in terrestrial sinks can be used to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Forests have a higher Carbon density compared to other ecosystems types (Bolin et al., 2000). Forest ecosystems store more than 80% of all terrestrial aboveground carbon and more than 70% of all soil organic Carbon (Six et al., 2002a).</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The amount of carbon dioxide sequestered in the forest ecosystem products is greater than the amount of carbon dioxide released through the decomposition and combustion of biomass (Flugsrud et al. 2001). The annual Carbon Dioxide exchange between forests and the atmosphere via photosynthesis and respiration is nearly 50 Pg C/yr. It is 7 times greater than the current anthropogenic carbon emission.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">IPCC has been concluded that the cumulative amount of carbon that can be preserved and sequestrated during the period of 1995-2050 by lowering the deforestation and promoting reforestation in the tropics, associated with the implementation of a global forestation program is about 67-80 GTC(Browns et al., 1996).</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Due to an unexpected population growth associated with economic development, intensifying deforestation and degradation of existing natural forest cover, arising demand for forest products as well as non-timber forest products including medicines and fuelwood and accelerated carbon dioxide emissions from anthropogenic sources have declined the global warming mitigating the potential of the forests. So the deforestation is needed to be lower and the reforestation has to be promoted.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">According to the IPCC (2006), there are five carbon pools of a terrestrial ecosystem involving biomass including above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass, and the dead mass of litter, woody debris, and soil organic matter. </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> The above-ground biomass of a tree constitutes the major portion of the carbon pool. It is the most important and visible carbon pool of the terrestrial forest ecosystem. Any land use change like forest degradation and deforestation has a direct impact on this component of the carbon pool. The below-ground biomass which is comprised of all the live roots plays an important role in the carbon cycle by transferring and storing carbon in the soil. Both the above and belowground components of terrestrial ecosystems have sequestered 20–25 % of the carbon globally from fossil fuel combustion and cement production between 2000 and 2008 (IGBP/GCP 2010).</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">    </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Soil organic matter is also a chief contributor to the carbon stocks of forests, next only to the above-ground biomass and soils are a major source of carbon emissions following deforestation. The dead mass of litter and woody debris are not a major carbon pool as they contribute merely a small fraction to the carbon stocks of forests</span></div>

Carbon sequestration in forests as a the long-term solution for climate change mitigation

The increase in the level of the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases has contributed to global warming which is the increase...

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Carbon Trading

<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7T9ZODYlAwDu1TCxsx1WFd37T-mp7v8Vftrax4bcmM9d9VGft8ApzbRGlUCM2DzQ-n8L138GWacV5jA4PaoXcPxbxKJmDilqnnLvTuSDSRYgYFtJKfgfVNqvqgnmCMxzQtd_FQooWapBZ/s1600/principle-emissions-trading.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="521" data-original-width="1000" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7T9ZODYlAwDu1TCxsx1WFd37T-mp7v8Vftrax4bcmM9d9VGft8ApzbRGlUCM2DzQ-n8L138GWacV5jA4PaoXcPxbxKJmDilqnnLvTuSDSRYgYFtJKfgfVNqvqgnmCMxzQtd_FQooWapBZ/s640/principle-emissions-trading.png" width="640" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 100%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 100%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 150%;">Carbon trading is an approach used to control carbon dioxide pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving emissions reductions. The use of market mechanisms, in the form of carbon trading, has emerged as a key narrative in the international response to climate change formalized in the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Carbon trading was first proposed to the Second Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UNFCCC in 1996  and was later enshrined in the CDM of the Kyoto protocol of 1997.<o:p></o:p></span><br /> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There are two main forms that carbon trading takes: ‘cap and trade’ and offsetting. Under cap and trade schemes, governments or intergovernmental bodies set an overall legal limit on emissions in a certain time period (‘a cap’) and then grant industries a certain number of licenses to pollute (‘carbon permits’ or ‘emissions allowances’). Companies that do not meet their cap can buy permits from others.<o:p></o:p></span><br /> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Carbon offsets are based on ‘emissions-saving projects’ that are created to ‘compensate’ for continued pollution in industrialized countries in the North. Offsets’ under the Kyoto A protocol is referred to as emissions reductions not covered by the cap in an ETS. Pollution continues at one location and equivalent emissions saving or increasing the capacity such as sink (such as forests or soils) will happen elsewhere beyond ‘business as usual’. Offsets are also now widely traded outside the Kyoto-compliance market, including by individuals and firms voluntarily aiming to offset their GHG emissions.<o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Under Kyoto offset projects fall under either the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or Joint Implementation (JI) and create credits called certified emission reduction (CER) and emission reduction unit (ERU) respectively. Currently CDM projects are the major source of Kyoto offsets and occur in industrially developing countries falling outside any Kyoto emissions limits. <o:p></o:p></span><br /> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">JI refers to projects based in industrialized countries, typically Eastern Europe. Kyoto offsets support industrialized countries with greater flexibility in meeting their caps whilst achieving sustainable development and are also referred to as ‘flexibility mechanisms’. These offsets do not require a polluting source to reduce its emissions, but instead, allow them to increase emissions and offset them elsewhere. They could just as sensibly be called certified ‘emission increase’ units. <o:p></o:p></span><br /> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Growing trees are important components for carbon trading which happens under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) established under the Kyoto Protocol United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Carbon trading allows developed countries to offset some of their carbon emissions by investing in climate-friendly projects, such as tree planting under forestry CDM projects, in developing countries.<o:p></o:p></span><br /> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">While net global emissions reductions should occur for source offset, where sink offsets are involved the total scale of systemic GHG cycling will be expanded (e.g. via more sources justified by more sinks). Such a process seriously risks further enhancing the Greenhouse Effect. <o:p></o:p></span><br /> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Offsets also have several problems as following. The amount of carbon emitted by the source is not always equivalent to the amount of carbon offset by the sinks. The amount of carbon sequestration in trees and soils varies greatly depending on the local environmental conditions, skills of foresters, management practices and enforcement of regulations. Forestry can also be subjected to disturbance and soil erosion resulting release of the stored carbon. <o:p></o:p></span></div> <br />

Carbon Trading

Carbon trading is an approach used to control carbon dioxide pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving emissions redu...

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