Development of country specific emission factors for reporting GHG inventory in the forestry sector

Abstract

Forest is recognized by the UNFCCC as carbon pool and removal source of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and the IPCC guidelines classify carbon pool in the LULUCF sector as above- and below-ground biomass, dead organic matter(DOM), soil organic matter(SOM), and harvested wood products(HWP). IPCC recommends developing and applying country specific emission factors(CSEFs) in consideration of the environmental characteristics of each country, and recognizes them as Tier 2 levels when applying CSEFs. This study was conducted to develop CSEFs for each carbon pool in Korea. To develop CSEFs, a total of 150 sample sites with a minimum sample size(>30) for each CSEF were collected by forest biomass and soil carbon survey standard guideline. For uncertainty assessment, the methodology presented in IPCC guidelines was evaluated. As a result, 60 CSEFs for biomass (including biomass conversion factor, biomass expansion factor and root ratio), 50 CSEFs for DOM and SOM, and 72 CSEFs for deadwood by decay classes were developed for major tree species which covered about 70% of Korean forests. The carbon fraction of deadwoods was 47-51%, which was no significant among tree species. in the caes of litter, Korean pine and Korean red pine were relatively higher than other species. The carbon fraction of soil was analyzed at 1.5 to 2.8%, and the carbon content of non-conifer tree species(2.4 to 2.8%) was higher than that of conifer tree species(1.5% to 2.0%). The uncertainty assessment showed that uncertainty of carbon conversion factor in the SOM was higher than that in the DOM, which is attributed to large variations in the amount of carbon flowing into the soil due to the inflow of DOM and their chemical composition differences. Carbon fractions for SOM and DOM developed in this study showed similar to those results in the fifth National Forest Inventory, with uncertainties similar to those in other countries.

Keywords: Sustainable forest management, Climate change

ID: 3623158