GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM LAND USE SECTOR

Net greenhouse gas emissions can be reported either including or excluding the land use, land use change and forestry sector. Net greenhouse gas emission measurements in this commentary have excluded the land use, land use change and forestry sector due to the change in Kyoto Protocol accounting rules between the 1990 base year and the commitment period (2008-2012). Nevertheless, emissions from the land use, land use change and forestry sector are of interest.

The following graph is of total emissions from the land use, land use change and forestry sector, including emissions from bushfires.

Total emissions for the land use, land use change and forestry sector have increased 49%, from 46.1 Gg in 1990 to 68.5 Gg in 2008. The emissions from this sector have been quite variable over time. From 1990 to 2008, emissions from this sector peaked at 338.5 in 2002 and 339.5 in 2007 due to additional emissions from bushfires (DCCEE 2010c).

Under Kyoto Protocol, not all of the land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector emissions are included in net greenhouse gas emissions. Of the 68.5 Gg of total greenhouse gas emissions from the LULUCF sector in 2008, only 26.6 Gg were included under the Kyoto Protocol. Due to a change in the Kyoto Protocol accounting rules in 2008, there is a difference in the inclusion of the LULUCF sector emissions between the base period (1990) and the commitment period (2008-2012). This change in definition has meant that no consistent timeseries is available including only part of the LULUCF sector, so total emisisons from the LULUCF sector have been discussed here.