Management Options for Carbon Sequestration in Forest,...

WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS

CRC FOR GREENHOUSE ACCOUNTING

25 MAY 2000

Management Options

for Carbon Sequestration

in Forest, Agricultural

and Rangeland Ecosystems

i

© Commonwealth of Australia 2000

ISBN 0646404318

This work is copyright. The Copyright Act 1968 permits fair dealing for study, research, news

reporting, criticism or review. Selected passages, tables or diagrams may be reproduced for

such purposes provided acknowledgment of the source is included. Major extracts from the

document may not be reproduced without the written permission of The Chief Executive

Officer, CRC for Greenhouse Accounting.

This volume is a collection of papers provided by participants in the Management

Options for Carbon Sequestration in Forest, Agricultural and Rangeland Ecosystems.

Workshop held by the CRC during May 2000.

Papers were not referred, and views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily

those of the Commonwealth Government nor the Cooperative Research Centre. Neither the

authors nor the Commonwealth or CRC accept responsibility for any advice or information

that relates to this material.

Edited by: Rodney Keenan, Adrian L. Bugg and Holly Ainslie, Bureau of Rural Sciences

Published by:

Communications Office

CRC for Greenhouse Accounting

GPO Box 475

CANBERRA ACT 2601

Email: [email protected]

WWW: www.greenhouse.crc.org.au

Preferred way to cite this publication:

Keenan, R., Bugg, A.L., Ainslie, H. (eds) (2000) Management Options for Carbon Sequestration

in Forest, Agricultural and Rangeland Ecosystems. Cooperative Research Centre for

Greenhouse Accounting.

Acknowledgments:

The CRC for Greenhouse Accounting is a national independent scientific research centre

established in 1999 as an unincorporated joint venture under the AusIndustry CRC Program.

Thanks are due to participating CRC members and CRC staff located within the Bureau of

Rural Sciences (BRS), Canberra. BRS is a professionally independent scientific bureau within

the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry, Australia.

Artwork: ANU Graphics

Photographs: Chin Wong (CRC); Roger Gifford (CRC); and the WA Department of

Conservation and Land Management

Printer: Goanna Print

The potential threat of global climate change due to increased atmospheric concentrations of

greenhouse gases has resulted in significant international efforts to reduce emissions of these

gases. Australia is a signatory to the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) and

the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which require nations to co-operate in stabilising atmospheric

g reenhouse gases with the objective of preventing ”dangerous anthropogenic (human)

interference with the climate system“. Upon ratification of the Protocol, developed nations will

commit to reducing, or limiting increases in, greenhouse gas emissions to a specified percentage

of their 1990 emissions by the first commitment period (2008-2012).

Approximately 30% of Australia’s human-derived greenhouse gas emissions come from the

terrestrial biosphere, through land-use practices in forest agricultural and rangeland ecosystems.

Australia has many opportunities to reduce emissions and increase sinks of greenhouse gases

through revegetation, reductions in land degradation and modified agricultural and forestry

practices. Reduced emissions and additional uptakes from land systems are as effective as

reductions in fossil fuel emissions in combating the increase of greenhouse gases in the

atmosphere. Changes in land management practices that increase carbon stocks will also result in

other environmental benefits.

This volume is the CRC’s first publication. It presents background material and results from a

workshop where scientists and policy makers came together to analyse the implications of various

management options for carbon sequestration in agricultural, rangeland and forest ecosystems. In

analysing carbon management options and developing measurement techniques, scientists in the

CRC will continue to work closely with managers and policy makers to ensure their research is

relevant and that results are presented in a timely way.

Prof. Ian Noble

Chief Executive Officer

F o re w o rd

ii

M A N A G E M E N T O P T I O N S F O R C A R B O N S E Q U E S T R A T I O N iii

Foreword ii

Executive Summary 1

Workshop Aims 3

Section One: Introduction 5

International Policy and Information Requirements (Ian Carruthers) 6

National Carbon Accounting System (Gary Richards) 12

Section Two: Cropping Systems 31

Changes in Carbon in Summer Rainfall Cropping Systems(W. Felton, G. Schwenke, R. Martin , and J. Fisher). 32

Management Options for Carbon Sequestration in Tropical and Sub-Tropical Cropping Systems(Merv Probert, B.A. Keating, P.J. Thorburn and S.N. Lisson). 38

Current and Future Carbon Storage in the Western Australian Wheat Belt(P.R. Ward, M. Poole, F.X. Dunin, I.R.P. Fillery, N.C. Turner and M. Wong). 49

Agricultural Managements Practices (Jan Skjemstad) 54

Section Three: Grazing Systems—Pastures and Rangeland 57

Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks from Dairy Production Systems in Australia(R. Eckard, D. Dalley, M. Crawford) 58

Carbon Sequestration in Australia’s Rangelands (B. Baker, G. Barnett and M. Howden) 73

Carbon in Woodlands (B. Burrows) 83

Non-Forestry Vegetation Fluxes (R. Fensham) 84

Carbon Sequestration in Western Australian Rangelands (P. Biggs) 86

Section Four: Forests 89

Forest, Afforestation, Reforestation and Deforestation (R. Keenan and S. Sonntag) 90

Project Level Accounting for Plantation Management and Carbon Trading (K. Lamb) 95

Wood Product Accounting Options for NCAS (C. Borough) 108

Carbon Dynamics in Queensland Native Forests (P. Norman and P. Bartlett) 113

Inclusion of Forest Management Practice as an Additional Activity Under Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol on the Emissions Profile of Australia (P. Snowdon, P. Khanna, J. Raison, M. Kirschbaum) 116

Section Five: Group Outcomes 119Cropping Systems 120Grazing Systems—Pastures and Rangelands 123Forests 125

Section Six: Workshop Participants 131Workshop Group Participants 132Participant’s Contact Details 133

C o n t e n t s

iv

Dr. Rod Keenan, Bureau of Rural Sciences and Project Leader, CRC for Greenhouse Accounting

The role of vegetation sinks in meeting commitments to the

Kyoto Protocol will be a major focus of international climate

change negotiations during 2000. Key decisions are expected at

the Sixth Conference of the Parties in the Netherlands in

November on issues relating to Article 3.3 of the Kyoto Protocol

(afforestation, reforestation and deforestation), and Article 3.4

(additional human-induced activities in agricultural soils and

land use change and forestry). Program 4 of the CRC for

Greenhouse Accounting has a role in providing policy makers

with scientific and technical assessments of various

management options for carbon sequestration in terrestrial

vegetation and soil. To facilitate this process about 40 scientists

f rom within and outside the CRC and policy staff fro m

Commonwealth agencies were invited to attend a one-day

workshop. A number of papers were also commissioned before

the workshop from scientists in cropping and grazing sectors.

In an introductory session, Mr. Ian Carruthers of the Australian

Greenhouse Office provided the group with an update on the

current policy situation and information requirements leading

up to COP6. CRC CEO, Prof. Ian Noble gave a summary of the

Special Report on Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry

recently approved by the IPCC in Montreal, and Dr. Gary

Richards of the AGO provided an overview of progress with the

National Carbon Accounting System.

Participants then broke into three groups to consider forest

management, cropping and pastoral/rangeland systems in more

detail. Groups were given short presentations by a number of

participants and asked to consider potential additional activities

against a number of criteria such as the size of potential carbon

s e q u e s t ration, the degree to which this potential can be

achieved, measurability, verifiability, and interactions with other

management objectives. Participants were also asked to identify

where further information might be available to inform short-

term analysis, and areas of most importance for longer-term

research. Given the compressed time frame and the level of

understanding of the issues of many of the participants, not as

much was achieved in terms of rigorous analysis as originally

intended. However, the workshop was very valuable in bringing

a wider group of scientists up to date with the current policy

situation and the nature of the research questions being

presented by the Kyoto Protocol and the Framework Convention

on Climate Change. The workshop also provided an opportunity

for research scientists from a diversity of organisations and

policy makers to discuss issues related to implementation of the

Protocol in an open way.

KEY CONCLUS IONS

1. Australian climate, soils and agricultural management

histories are significantly different to those of developed

countries in the northern hemisphere. These differences

generally result in considerably less potential for increases

in soil carbon stocks associated with changing crop or

pasture management practices in Australia compared with

northern temperate regions.

2. Potential gains in soil carbon stocks that may come about

as result of alternative crop or pasture management are

difficult to predict because responses vary with regional

climate and soil type in ways that are not currently well

understood.

3. Significant changes in vegetation composition (grassy to

shrubby understorey) that may be occurring across large

areas of grazed woodlands in Australia as a result of

changing fire and grazing practices. These changes may be

resulting in significant increases in carbon stocks in woody

vegetation. Other changes in management in the

Australian rangelands, such as destocking, shifts in grazing

practice, and revegetation of degraded areas with shrubs

may also result in increases in carbon stocks.

4. There has been a rapid recent expansion occurring in the

area of Australian forest plantations. The potential increase

in carbon stocks in the first commitment period of the

Kyoto Protocol in new plantations established since 1990

will depend on:

the ongoing rate of plantation establishment through

to 2012. This will largely be determined by the

continued flow of investment funds (including those

from companies wanting to invest in carbon

sequestration) and federal, state and local government

policies and regulations,

the plantation species mix and the proportion of

plantations under short versus long rotation

management, and

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y

Executive Summary

1

2

the regions in which the plantations are located, which

will determine the species and potential growth rates in

the new plantations.

5. There may be some potential for increasing carbon stocks

or reducing greenhouse emissions as a result of changing

forest management practices, but the information base and

analytical capacity to quantify these potential changes is

currently very poor. The inclusion of increased carbon

stocks/reductions in emissions due to changes in forest

management in an emissions trading system, or other

funding mechanisms, might stimulate better measurement

of forests, but some analysis is required of the cost of

measurement in relation to potential financial gains.

6. There is still a significant lack of information related to the

area and carbon stock associated with non-commercial

revegetation activities.

7. There is relatively reliable information available to assess

the storage of carbon in harvested wood products within

Australia and this may be considered as an ‘additional

activity under Article 3.4’.

S H O R T-TERM RESEARCH REQUIREMENTS

As a result of workshop outcomes the research work in CRC

Project 4.3 will focus on the following:

Classification management systems for current forest,

agricultural and rangeland ecosystems by climatic region

and soil type in terms of their potential impact on carbon

stocks.

Identification of areas under different management

systems in different regions.

Further analysis of the potential for change in different

forest, agricultural and rangeland management systems

and the interactions of this change with production and

other values.

Consideration of baseline requirements and potential data

sources for analysing previous practice.

M A N A G E M E N T O P T I O N S F O R C A R B O N S E Q U E S T R A T I O N

CRC for Greenhouse Accounting

Workshop on policy relevant analysis ofmanagement options for carbon sequestrationin agricultural, forest and rangeland ecosystems

Thursday 25th May 2000, Centre for Resourceand Environmental Studies, Hancock Building,ANU, Canberra

A I M S

1. To inform participants of the current international policy

agenda in relation to Article 3.3 and 3.4 of the Kyoto

Protocol.

2. To review and synthesise current information on different

options for carbon sequestration in forests, agricultural

and rangeland systems under Articles 3.3 and 3.4 of the

Kyoto Protocol.

3. To rank potential additional activities in relation to

technical and scientific criteria.

4. To develop a plan for further information collection

and analyses.

O U T P U T S

A compilation of commissioned studies and

workshop notes.

A summary of the workshop and key papers for

wider distribution.

A plan for further research work by CRC participants

and desired future research between the CRC and

other partners.

W O R K S H O P P R O G R A M

Workshop Aims

3

M A N A G E M E N T O P T I O N S F O R C A R B O N S E Q U E S T R A T I O N 4

Section One

I n t ro d u c t i o nPapers and Presentations

International Policy and InformationRequirements (Ian Carruthers)

National Carbon Accounting Systems (Gary Richards)


Slide 1

International policy and information requirements

Ian CarruthersAustralian Greenhouse Office, Canberrs

S E C T I O N O N E : I N T R O D U C T I O N 7

Slide 2

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Slide 10

Slide 11

M A N A G E M E N T O P T I O N S F O R C A R B O N S E Q U E S T R A T I O N12

Slide 1

National Carbon Accounting System

Gary Richard sAustralian Greenhouse Office

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