UNFCCC Publishes Meeting Report on Guidance for Forest Emissions and Removals
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June 2010: The UNFCCC Secretariat has published the report of the informal meeting of experts, which took place in Bonn, Germany, from 25-26 May 2010, on enhancing coordination of capacity-building activities in relation to using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidance and guidelines as a basis for estimating forest-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals, forest carbon stocks and forest area changes.
The main objectives of the informal meeting were to: develop recommendations on how to enhance coordination among parties, relevant organizations and other stakeholders in ongoing and planned capacity-building activities, in the context of existing initiatives; and identify products and/or activities that are ongoing and/or that could be developed to facilitate enhancement of coordination of capacity-building efforts.
The experts recommended key activities that could be undertaken in the short term, including: stimulation and enhancement of regional cooperation to facilitate the sharing of experiences gained and lessons learned from demonstration activities and use of the IPCC guidance and guidelines, as well as the sharing and exchange of data sources; sharing of information and experiences gained, particularly from demonstration activities, through the web platform on the UNFCCC website; strengthening of the IPCC Emission Factor Database (EFDB) with more forest-related parameters; and preparation of a workbook or tutorial guide by the IPCC on the IPCC guidance and guidelines for estimating forest-related GHG emissions and removals, forest carbon stocks and forest area changes.
On activities that the Secretariat could consider promoting over the medium to long term, the experts recommended: enhancing coordination by matching countries that indicate a need for capacity building in relation to their use of the IPCC guidance and guidelines with relevant bilateral and multilateral programmes and experts that could provide or support such capacity building; working jointly with the IPCC to provide criteria or recommendations on how parties can assess the available tools used for the implementation of the IPCC guidance and guidelines; and working jointly with the IPCC, over the long term, on the assessment of tools and methods used for the preparation of land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) inventories using a generic data set, to enhance understanding of these tools and methods, and their implications for the estimations, and developing criteria for assessment of such tools.
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