FOREWORD
The ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) is the stabilization of atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, but a number of important problems remain to be solved before a target stabilization level can be quantitatively specified. What can be calculated with some confidence is that current emissions from human activities are likely to lead to increasing atmospheric concentrations of these gases over coming decades or even centuries. Whatever route is eventually chosen to meet the Convention's ultimate objective, systematic quantification of present day anthropogenic emissions, using comparable methods, is a necessary basis for international agreements on future emissions. Once compiled, a national greenhouse gas inventory serves as a valuable tool within the context of the FCCC. It allows each country to place its own emissions within the larger picture of global emissions, and provides a baseline against which its own future emissions can be compared. It also provides a basis for the formulation of a national greenhouse gas mitigation policy. Furthermore, experience shows--and the studies reported here are no exception--that compilation of the inventory brings additional benefits, including improved national statistics, increased awareness of the issues surrounding climate change among government and industry, and improved cooperation between countries with similar patterns of greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Country Studies Program and the United Nations Environment Programme/ Global Environment Facility (UNEP/GEF) Country Case Studies Project use the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories as their standard inventory methodology. The guidelines currently represent the only inventory methodology specifically accepted by the parties to the FCCC. Developed over three years under a program coordinated jointly by IPCC, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the International Energy Agency (IEA), the guidelines provide an internationally accepted methodology for quantifying emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Methods and default data contained in the guidelines are based on wide international consultation and on the best information available in the scientific and technical literature. Nevertheless, the development of the guidelines must be seen as an ongoing process, and the studies reported in this workshop represent searching tests of the practical applicability of the guidelines as well as important sources of guidance for future improvements. Under the IPCC guidelines, the basic approach for calculating emissions of a particular gas from a particular sector or sub-sector is simple in concept: Emissions = Activity Level x Emission Factor
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment38: v-vi, 1995.
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FOm3WORD
However, determining activity levels and emission factors can present difficulties. A particular feature of greenhouse gas emissions in Africa is the high proportion that comes from agriculture, land-use change, and other area sources, precisely the categories that present the greatest practical difficulties for inventory calculations. Many of the activity data--for example, area of savanna burned per year---either do not exist or must be derived from related statistics, or even from anecdotal evidence. Experimentally based emission factors specific to a particular region or system are scarce, so those factors that a r e known are often applied in places that may be beyond their region of validity. Compilation of a national greenhouse gas inventory, nowhere easy, thus presents particular problems for countries in Africa. Papers presented in this volume demonstrate a considerable degree of tenacity in extracting activity data from disparate sources, and also report important progress in the exploitation of remote sensing and in the improved quantification of emission factors. Finally, it is very important to acknowledge the coordinating and facilitating role played by the various country study programs related to the Climate Convention, including the U.S. Country Studies Program and the UNEP/GEF Country Case Studies Project. Through input of resources and through collaborative efforts, these programs supported the original development of the IPCC guidelines, helped to achieve their wide international acceptance, and contributed to their final publication. In addition, country case study programs that have used the IPCC methodology have also been instrumental in delivering the IPCC manuals, and providing training in their use, to a large number of developing countries and countries with economies in transition. The substantial progress in the compilation of national greenhouse gas inventories that was evident in the Johannesburg workshop represents some of the rewards of these extensive international efforts.
Bruce A. Callander Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Meteorological Office, Hadley Climate Centre London Road, Bracknell RG12 2SY, United Kingdom
The ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) is the stabilization of atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, but a number of important problems remain to be solved before a target stabilization level can be quantitatively specified. What can be calculated with some confidence is that current emissions from human activities are likely to lead to increasing atmospheric concentrations of these gases over coming decades or even centuries. Whatever route is eventually chosen to meet the Convention's ultimate objective, systematic quantification of present day anthropogenic emissions, using comparable methods, is a necessary basis for international agreements on future emissions. Once compiled, a national greenhouse gas inventory serves as a valuable tool within the context of the FCCC. It allows each country to place its own emissions within the larger picture of global emissions, and provides a baseline against which its own future emissions can be compared. It also provides a basis for the formulation of a national greenhouse gas mitigation policy. Furthermore, experience shows--and the studies reported here are no exception--that compilation of the inventory brings additional benefits, including improved national statistics, increased awareness of the issues surrounding climate change among government and industry, and improved cooperation between countries with similar patterns of greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Country Studies Program and the United Nations Environment Programme/ Global Environment Facility (UNEP/GEF) Country Case Studies Project use the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories as their standard inventory methodology. The guidelines currently represent the only inventory methodology specifically accepted by the parties to the FCCC. Developed over three years under a program coordinated jointly by IPCC, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the International Energy Agency (IEA), the guidelines provide an internationally accepted methodology for quantifying emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Methods and default data contained in the guidelines are based on wide international consultation and on the best information available in the scientific and technical literature. Nevertheless, the development of the guidelines must be seen as an ongoing process, and the studies reported in this workshop represent searching tests of the practical applicability of the guidelines as well as important sources of guidance for future improvements. Under the IPCC guidelines, the basic approach for calculating emissions of a particular gas from a particular sector or sub-sector is simple in concept: Emissions = Activity Level x Emission Factor
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment38: v-vi, 1995.
vi
FOm3WORD
However, determining activity levels and emission factors can present difficulties. A particular feature of greenhouse gas emissions in Africa is the high proportion that comes from agriculture, land-use change, and other area sources, precisely the categories that present the greatest practical difficulties for inventory calculations. Many of the activity data--for example, area of savanna burned per year---either do not exist or must be derived from related statistics, or even from anecdotal evidence. Experimentally based emission factors specific to a particular region or system are scarce, so those factors that a r e known are often applied in places that may be beyond their region of validity. Compilation of a national greenhouse gas inventory, nowhere easy, thus presents particular problems for countries in Africa. Papers presented in this volume demonstrate a considerable degree of tenacity in extracting activity data from disparate sources, and also report important progress in the exploitation of remote sensing and in the improved quantification of emission factors. Finally, it is very important to acknowledge the coordinating and facilitating role played by the various country study programs related to the Climate Convention, including the U.S. Country Studies Program and the UNEP/GEF Country Case Studies Project. Through input of resources and through collaborative efforts, these programs supported the original development of the IPCC guidelines, helped to achieve their wide international acceptance, and contributed to their final publication. In addition, country case study programs that have used the IPCC methodology have also been instrumental in delivering the IPCC manuals, and providing training in their use, to a large number of developing countries and countries with economies in transition. The substantial progress in the compilation of national greenhouse gas inventories that was evident in the Johannesburg workshop represents some of the rewards of these extensive international efforts.
Bruce A. Callander Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Meteorological Office, Hadley Climate Centre London Road, Bracknell RG12 2SY, United Kingdom
