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The Kyoto ProtocolThe Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) to the atmosphere. Developed countries such as the UK, with agreed emissions reduction targets, may host afforestation, reforestation and forest management projects, and estimate the carbon uptake contributions from forestry and land use within their national GHG accounting and associated reports, towards internationally agreed GHG reduction targets. New planting in the UK since 1990 is estimated in the Scottish Forestry Strategy to take up 400,000 tonnes of carbon per annum by 2010. |
Carbon SequestrationCarbon sequestration is the absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through green plant photosynthesis.The SWA is creating native woodland that is being used as a testing ground to promote greater understanding of the role of forestry in carbon sequestration. Through its awareness of the need to monitor and predict the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere by the trees on SWA sites, it will contribute significantly to the debate on climate change. The SWA is pioneering a research programme that is already providing new information on baseline monitoring. A Working Group on Carbon (CWG) is shaping this programme. Professor Peter Bevis of Lochaber Estates explains: "Our aim is to understand the role that native woodland plays in carbon sequestration, through interpretation of the carbon changes on SWA sites." The CWG is in the forefront of accurate, long-term carbon monitoring by overseeing one of the first full carbon baselines for a forest site in the UK, and producing a recommended baseline programme for SWA sites generally. The SWA plans to utilise an exciting methodology for sampling soils and vegetation on project sites and calculating existing carbon stocks such that future measurements can be taken. Some of the early findings are exciting. The CWG now believes that many sites may take up considerably more carbon than first thought. Over the project’s 200-year lifetime, our planned sites may sequester as much as half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide. This figure will be refined as the project continues. Another important aspect of the SWA’s contribution to the carbon sequestration debate is its 200-year contractual commitment to its sites. In doing this, it is taking steps to answer the 'permanence question', where some forestry projects may find their carbon contributions questionable due to potential future land-use change and risks that the forest could be destroyed and not renewed. Furthermore, the new woods supported by the SWA satisfy a key criterion in the debate - that of genuine additionality.  |
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