Conservation = Mitigation: new UNEP report on managing ecosystem carbon

[eric]

This UNEP report is quite interesting (scroll to the bottom for a copy). Although it is well known that REDD can prevent emissions, this report brings other ecosystems into question and argues that the conservation of all ecosystems plays a key role in reducing emissions. So for those that are interested in increasing the influence that the Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD) has on the climate negotiations, this might be quite relevant. It gives a nice overview of the role of natural and human dominated ecosystems in mitigation, as well as activities that improve their roles as sinks, and impacts of climate change on the ability of these systems to absorb carbon. It also addresses the role of ecosystem carbon in the climate negotiations as well as the financing of the necessary conservation actions to reduce land use emissions.
Some highlighted points in the report:

-reducing the global deforestation rate by 50% by the year 2050 could contribute to 12% of the necessary reductions for limiting the global average temperature change to 2°C or less.

-Actions in the following key ecosystems will help reduce emissions: tropical forests, peatlands, agriculture

- by 2030 agriculture could generally be carbon neutral if the right actions are taken

One thing I should mention is that costs of specific actions are referred to in price per ton of CO2, and the prices of land use mitigation are compared with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) at one point. Here the IPCCC (2005) is quoted with the CCS cost of $20-$270 (US) per ton of CO2 equivalents. I don't know much in this area, but I think a more recent and accurate cost (for CCS) might be availble somewhere, so be careful when comparing.

Here is the website where I received it: http://www.unep.org/pdf/BioseqRRA_scr.pdf
Also the website that brought it to my attention: http://www.wir-klimaretter.de/content/view/3079/70/

I hope it is useful and interesting for some of you!
cheers, eric
BioseqRRA_scr.pdf

[Mika Huettner]

Thanks Eric for sharing this report. I skipped over it. I have the impression however that the carbon value is the emphasis, whereas the biodiversity value is still hard to quantify and thus to include in the decision making. There is interesting work going on from Conservation International in this regard. Also other ecosystem services - especially the water-related services - are researched more and more. Check out the information from the Global Canopy Program: http://www.globalcanopy.org/
Regarding the watershed protection and micro-climate related services forest protection can also be regarded as a climate adaptation measure. Do you know of any financial schemes recognizing this value in adaptation finance?
Cheers
Mika