FOR is involved in the
full accounting of carbon and greenhouse gas emissions and removals following
a so-called bottom-up approach (cf. Denman et
al., 2007: Section 7.3.2.3.2). Although we prefer working holistically
and also consider anthropogenic greenhouse gases, our thematic
focus centers on terrestrial biota, while our geographical focus
is on northern Eurasia. (Case studies exist for Russia and large regions
in northern Eurasia as well as for small countries like Austria.) This
research is driven by the need to close the bottom-up/top-down ‘accounting
gap’ on sub-global scales.
Accurate bottom-up/top-down accounting is highly relevant from a political point
of view as it provides:
- a reference framework for the verification of emissions, ensuring
that the Kyoto Protocol, or its successor, will not hang ‘in the air’;
and, thus,
- an appropriate scientific background for the analysis
of uncertain emission changes (see Jonas et
al., 2004: Section 2.3 and Box 1).
Overview of FOR’s bottom-up driven research toward closing the ‘accounting
gap’:
Overview articles etc.:
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FOR’s
Russian carbon study (2000):
- FOR built its Full Carbon Account for
Russia on
an integrated system of georeferenced descriptions of land
and environment comprising GIS products and databases on individual
components of Russia’s environment. to
the study
- New Scientist: Smokescreen
exposed
- IIASA
News Release
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FOR’s
Austrian carbon database study (2001):
FOR’s Austrian Carbon Database [ACDb] study pursued three
main objectives: (1) to support the Austrian Carbon Balance Model
[ACBM] II; (2) to place Austria's carbon accounting within an
international science and policy context focusing on the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UN FCCC]; and
(3) to provide good practice guidance for full carbon accounting
rather than partial carbon accounting. more
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FOR’s involvement in
the SIBERIA II study (2002–2005):
The overall objective of SIBERIA II is to demonstrate the viability
of full greenhouse gas accounting (including: CO2, CO, CH4, N2O,
NOx) on a regional basis using the environmental tools and systems
available to us today and in the near future. The region under study
is Northern Eurasia, covering an area of more than 300 million hectares
and representing a significant part of the Earth's boreal biome which
plays a critical role in global climate. The tools and systems employed
include a spectrally and temporally diverse set of multi-sensor Earth
Observation instruments, detailed databases of field information
and some of the worlds most advanced climate models to account for
fluxes between land and atmosphere. more
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FOR’s reassessment of
the uncertainty in the full CO2-C account of Russia’s terrestrial
biosphere (2004–2007):
FOR reassessed its earlier uncertainty estimate of Russia’s
CO2-C fluxes to and from the atmosphere. It is this direct
flux-related knowledge that is relevant for estimating the
uncertainty of Russia’s atmospheric balance. We made
use of the overall change in its soil and vegetation pools
(to the extent known) to check the plausibility, not validity,
of our net flux estimate. We resolve Russia’s atmospheric
CO2-C balance and uncertainty in terms of four major land-use/cover
types (arable land, forests, grasses & shrubs, and wetlands)
and eight bioclimatic zones. So far, the following material
is available of this research project funded by the Austrian
Science Fund (FWF):
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Responsible for this page: Forestry
Last updated: 16 April 2009
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Schlossplatz 1