A carbon inventory for Mexico

Abstract

Treaties such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) recognize the link between changes in vegetation cover and impacts on the global climate. The UNFCCC specifies guidelines for monitoring land use changes and for including such changes in the “equation” for evaluating a nation’s compliance with efforts to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) releases into the atmosphere. With an estimated 20 percent of CO2 emissions coming from land use changes, such monitoring must measure the carbon content of various vegetation types. ARD, Inc. developed such means through a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) project entitled Technical Assistance for Developing a Carbon Index for Mexico. The purpose of the project was to strengthen Mexico’s ability to estimate the amount of biomass CO2 lost or gained over time based on a consistent methodology. The ARD team developed a methodology for deriving national carbon estimates from, and in coordination with, well-established Mexican government programs. The team focused on the following land use change and forestry (LUCF) reporting categories: changes in forest and other woody biomass stocks, forest and grassland conversion, and abandonment of managed lands. For each category, the team developed technical guidelines that use data collection efforts already in existence or that would soon be underway--that is, long-term government programs funded each year that would be relatively consistent over time. The team felt that such commitment was necessary to support change estimates that occur on a time scale of decades. The team field-tested the methodology and had the results peer reviewed. The ARD procedures have application throughout the western hemisphere and indeed the rest of the world.

Parent Publication

• Monitoring Science and Technology Symposium: Unifying Knowledge for Sustainability in the Western Hemisphere

Citation

Wood; L.; Hughell; D. A.; Lund; H. G.; Torres; V. E.; Pérez-Chavéz; Mario 2006. A carbon inventory for Mexico. In: Aguirre-Bravo, C.; Pellicane, Patrick J.; Burns, Denver P.; and Draggan, Sidney, Eds. 2006. Monitoring Science and Technology Symposium: Unifying Knowledge for Sustainability in the Western Hemisphere Proceedings RMRS-P-42CD. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 365-373