Land Use Sector Involvement in Mitigation Policies Across Carbon Markets

Different local and international experiences show that the agroforestry sector can be fully included in the global warming mitigation strategies and in the market mechanisms that may have environmental and socioeconomic benefits. At present, however, the primary sector plays only a minor role in mitigation policies within the UNFCCC and under Kyoto’s Protocol, due to problems and difficulties related to emission/absorption accounting models andmonitoring and standardisation systems. If, on one hand, the progress in science has enabled to overcome accountingrelated problems, on the other, there are no adequate mechanisms to encourage and remunerate the primary sector’s efforts. More specifically, if the primary sector is considered as a source of emissions, it should also be recognised that it has beneficial impacts, notably in economic terms, as carbon sink. Therefore, the definition of clear and internationally shared rules might increase the carbon friendly initiatives and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This article is focused on the international experiences that have concerned the primary sector and is intended to supply researchers and policymakers with suggestions and recommendations for implementing local market practices related to carbon credits

the effects of climate change on the multifunctional role of basilicata s forests the effects induced on yield and co2 absorption

The first studies on the possible impact of climate change on European forests and the development of adaptation and mitigation strategies began in the 1990s and resulted in the identification of risk assessment models and forest management tools. The prediction of climate change impacts on forests has been based using the evidence theory or Dempster-Shafer (DS)'s theory, appropriately spatialised. The implemented evidence lines refer to the concepts of vulnerability and resilience. The results of the DS model, applied to the Basilicata region, were utilised to assess the loss in biomass production capacity and CO2 absorption ability of different forest-derived biomasses. The loss in stumpage value and in the estimated CO2 absorption shows a reduction over time of forest system's economic value that is basically higher in 2050 than in 2100. The applied methodological approach has shown that the high degree of spatial and information detail may be helpful to produce good predictions to envisage environmental policy strategies for the monitoring and mitigation of the damages caused by the climate change, with a view to ensuring the ecosystems' capacity to produce positive externalities, including air carbon sequestration capacity

Critical issues and challenges in the post-2012 perspective for the possible participation of the forestry sector market for carbon credits

The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (KP) is in its conclusive phase and with it the chances for forest farms in having an active role in the carbon market too. All carbon credits coming from Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry activities will be used free of charge by the Italian Government in order to meet the national emission reduction target established under the Kyoto Protocol. In particular, the emitting sectors excluded from the European Union Emission Trading Scheme will benefit from forest carbon credits to offset part of their emissions, while for forest owners there is not any recognition for the provided service. In order to avoid the replication of this situation in the post-2012, it is necessary that the institution and the forest stakeholders, create the conditions for forest farms to participate and obtain the benefits introduced with the establishment of the Emission Trading, within the framework of post-2012 agreement. This condition could be achieved through the institution of a national carbon market. In this perspective this paper examines the main critical issues that could affect the participation of forest farms in the market