Carbon Balance and Management Blog

The dramatic loss of carbon from soils

UNEP Yearbook outlines the dramatic loss of carbon from soils among major emerging  issues for global environment.  "The flagship publication, to be launched on 13 February 2012 at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, shows that soil erosion due to traditional agriculture is occurring 100 times faster than soil's natural formation process." [1]

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[1]  http://www.unep.org/newscentre/Default.aspx?DocumentID=2667&ArticleID=9021&l=en

Posted by Georgii Alexandrov at 08:29    Comments (0)

 

New thematic series to highlight the end of 2011 - UN Year of Forests

2011 has been the UN International Year of Forests and to highlight this, two of BioMed Central’s open access journals, BMC Ecology and Carbon Balance and Management, have joined forces to create a thematic series showcasing the latest research into these crucial ecosystems.

The two journals’ differing scopes are reflected in the different research themes highlighted in the series. Co Editor-in-Chief of Carbon Balance and Management, Georgii Alexandrov, introduces the thematic series in his editorial and discusses the importance of Land-Use/Land-Cover Change models in setting forest conservation targets. In a separate article, BMC Ecology’s Associate Editor Olivier Honnay reviews the use of a biodiversity-ecosystem functioning perspective in forest restoration. This approach, and its emphasis on functional rather than taxonomic diversity, may lead to a more pragmatic approach to forest restoration where a species’ function, rather than its origin, is assessed when selecting tree species to include.

Non-native tree species are also discussed in research by Annabel J Porte and colleagues who studied the invasive maple species, Acer negundo, which displays higher phenotypic plasticity than native species under non-limiting resource environments, explaining how these trees are able to spread throughout the resource rich forests of Europe.

Further articles published by Carbon Balance and Management in the thematic series include research by Dr Grant Domke et al. on the importance of incorporating density reductions and structural loss adjustments when assessing forest biomass and carbon stock estimates, and a timely review by Dr Martin Herold et al. discussing the best options for monitoring past carbon emissions from forest degradation.

Finally, BMC Ecology presents research by Tiina Särkinen and colleagues on the seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTF) of South America. Current biome maps for these areas vary considerably and highlight the difficulty in mapping highly discontinuous and fragmented vegetation like SDTF over large areas. Potential new methods for modeling these areas are presented with the hope that the generation of more reliable maps will allow further research into these threatened forests.

Over the forthcoming months we will be adding new articles to the series and we hope you enjoy reading them and keeping up to date with developments in this important area of research.

Philippa Harris
Senior Executive Editor
BMC Ecology

Genevieve Horne
Senior Journal Development Editor
BMC Ecology and Carbon Balance and Management

Posted by Genevieve Horne at 14:21    Comments (0)

 

The First Annual Low Carbon Earth Summit, paving the way for future low carbon policies

Today marks the start of BIT’s First Annual Low Carbon Earth Summit, held in Dalian, China. The theme of the conference is “Leading the Green Economy, Returning to Harmony with Nature”, and it aims to promote low carbon economies and to identify ways to play an even more active role in control of global climate change.

This conference helps to highlight the growing importance of policies to reduce carbon emissions, and to encourage renewable and sustainable energy resources. Recent research published in BioMed Central’s open access journal Carbon Balance and Management, demonstrates the timely need for these future policies. The study by Dr Kutsch et al. suggests that stopping or reducing deforestation in Zambia would be beneficial, but that the local people then experience a “Charcoal trap” - where woodlands and forests are protected and local residents lose their energy supply. Any investment in other energy supplies requires high investment which many countries cannot afford.

To help drive the decrease of carbon emissions and using the Miombo forests in Zambia as an example, preferably policies need to be introduced to assist poorer countries with preserving their forests and provide help with the finance and technology required to switch to a different energy supply. Alternatively, initiatives could help improve post-harvest management and charcoal production technology. These kind of approaches, applied worldwide, could then lead to substantially reduced net greenhouse gas emissions.

Another study by Dr Eduard Merger and Dr Till Pistorius, also in Carbon Balance and Management, discusses the importance of agreed standards in the over-the-counter carbon market to secure the integrity of the mitigation projects and to ensure the quality of the carbon credits. The variety of different standards can cause confusion but the pressure from the institutional environment on standards helps to ensure a minimum quality of credits which aids the integrity of standards. In essence, the forest sector in this market provides great opportunities for lessons for international climate policy when designing forest regulations.

The topic of carbon emissions and how to effectively manage the world’s resources sustainably is an increasingly important one and so BIT’s First Annual Low Carbon Earth Summit is very timely. We hope that this conference paves the way for new policies and initiatives to tackle this very important issue, and we look forward to the results.

Posted by Genevieve Horne at 11:24    Comments (0)

 

Invitation to submit to the new thematic series "Forests: looking to the Future"

In a bid to increase awareness of sustainable management and development of the world’s forests, the UN has declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests. To mark this occasion, Carbon Balance and Management and BMC Ecology are co-publishing a thematic series entitled ‘Forests: Looking to the Future’ to showcase the latest forestry research and published content in both journals.

For the series we will consider manuscripts on topics ranging from carbon cycling and climate change, to deforestation and long term reforestation strategies. We would like to welcome original research, reviews, database, methodology, and software articles that address these topics. The series will be presented on its own dedicated webpage.

The deadline for submissions is the 14th August and so please do submit your manuscript to one of these journals using their respective online submission systems, and indicate that you wish to be considered for the series in your covering letter.  For guidelines on formatting your manuscript for submission, please refer to the instructions for authors and for any questions regarding the thematic series or the journals please do contact us.

This thematic series promises to be an interesting and timely collection to coincide with the the UN Year of Forests and we look forward to receiving your manuscripts.

Posted by Genevieve Horne at 10:30    Comments (0)

 

Planet under Pressure Conference

Rik Leemans and Oran Young take part in organizing Planet Under Pressure conference (26-29 March 2012, London) [1].  One of the conference themes is how to meet humanity's growing needs, while also safeguarding the planet's capacity to deliver a broad range of ecosystem services including carbon storage and climate regulation. The conference is to provide scientific leadership for the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development - Rio+20.

[1] http://www.planetunderpressure2012.net/

Posted by Georgii Alexandrov at 21:15    Comments (0)

 

Should we reserve carbon dioxide monitoring for scientists?

Pieter Tans in the interview to the New York Times [1] said that he was cautiously optimistic about the new commercial venture of the Earth Networks. (This company is going to deploy a network of 100 greenhouse gas sensors around the planet for pinpointing emissions sources.) Emissions sooner or later are going to be worth money, and therefore transparency of the monitoring system does matter. Currently all greenhouse gas data and model results from the NOAA lab that Dr. Tans works in are freely available. He is worried that a portion of the transparency may disappear, when data will be provided by a commercial company.

[1] Tom Zeller. Weather Monitoring Company Turns to Greenhouse Gases. New York Times, January 12, 2011.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/business/12monitor.html?partner=rss&emc=rss>

Posted by Georgii Alexandrov at 01:04    Comments (0)

 

REDD+ national levels - which is the best?

COP16 provides a good opportunity to define the steps leading to a treaty on policy approaches and positive incentives on issues relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries; and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries  (aka 'REDD+').

 

UN-REDD Programme  hosts today a session where high-level representatives from REDD+ countries, the World Bank and the UN agencies discuss the meaningful partnership inroads being made to advance REDD+ efforts and what countries can learn from each other. [1]

 

REDD+ could contribute to the mitigation of climate change only if various methodological issues are resolved [2]. The very important of them now is how to set country-specific reference levels -- that is, the levels below which the countries' reduced emissions could be measured and credited.  Several articles published in CBM form a diversity of ideas which is essential for developing a set of options from which REDD+ countries may choose. Below is the list of papers organized in the form of a book content that might stimulate the authors of the cited articles to express their collective views in a book or in a position paper.

 

 

REDD+ national levels

Which is the best? - Umemya et al.

Which is biodiversity friendly? - Paoli et al.

Which is more operational? - Maniatis & Mollicone

Which is fair?  - Obersteiner et al.

Which is critical?  -  Kohl et al.

Which is less expensive? - Bottcher et al.

Which is more observable? - Goetz et al.

Which is more applicable? - Huettner et al.

Which is less risky? - Hurteau et al.

What is the purpose? - Gurney & Raymond  

 

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[1] Delivering as One: Partnerships for REDD+ (CEB side event). UN-REDD Programme Newsletter 2010: 14

 

[2] Umemiya C, Amano M, Wilamart S: Assessing data availability for the development of REDD-plus national reference levels, Carbon Balance and Management 2010, 5:6

 

Posted by Georgii Alexandrov at 05:52    Comments (0)

 

Global carbon budget updated to year 2009

Pep Canadell informs that the Global Carbon Project has released the new global carbon budget updated to year 2009, inclusive [1].

The annual growth rate of atmospheric CO₂ was 1.6 ppm in 2009, below the average for the period 2000-2008 of 1.9 ppm per year.  Fossil fuel CO₂ emissions decreased by 1.3% in 2009, with a total of 8.4±0.5 PgC emitted to the atmosphere. The abrupt decline in fossil fuel emissions by 1.3% in 2009 is indisputably the result of the global financial crisis (GFC), however, the decline was smaller than anticipated, and the emissions are expected to return to the high growth rates we have seen throughout the 2000s of at least 3% per year.

 The biggest increase in fossil fuel emissions in recent years took place in developing countries (with close to 6 billion people) while emissions from developed countries (with less than 1 billion people), on average, show rather steady emissions for the last decade. However, emissions of a number of developed countries declined abruptly in 2009 (USA −6.9%, UK −8.6%, Germany −7%, Japan −11.8%, Russia −8.4%), while emerging economies continued to display rapid growth (China +8%, India +6.2%, South Korea +1.4%).

Land use change was responsible for estimated net emissions of 1.1±0.7 PgC per year for the decade of 2000s; this is about a 25% decline from the emissions of 1.5 PgC during the 1990s.

Natural land and ocean CO₂ sinks removed 57% of all CO₂ emitted from human activities during the 1958-2009, each sink in roughly equal proportion. During this period, the size of the natural sinks has grown almost at the same pace as the growth in emissions, although year-to-year variability is large.

[1]  Global Carbon Project (2010) Carbon budget and trends 2009. http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/carbonbudget

Posted by Georgii Alexandrov at 02:45    Comments (0)

 

Carbon Balance and Management starts blogging

Carbon Balance and Management has started a blog to highlight and discuss the topical areas of interest to the journal's community. The blog will cover news, views, and  events related to the studies of the global carbon cycle and to the efforts of journal's authors, reviewers, editors, and friends.   

Posted by Georgii Alexandrov at 01:36    Comments (0)