Case study: Combination of data and a simple model to increase time resolution in the French inventory
As many countries, France has an efficient forest inventory which provides accurate estimates of tree growth, harvest and mortality. The associated drawback is a coarse time resolution which hinders appropriation of the reported data by policy makers. To bridge this gap, a simple model combining 5-yearly forest inventory data with annual statistics was developed, allowing meaningful annual estimates which, among others, reflect dramatic events such as storms in the time series.
Thanks to the rolling monitoring of permanent plots, the French forest inventory provides accurate estimates of tree growth, harvest and mortality on a 5-yearly basis (it takes five years for all of the plots to be sampled once, after which sampling starts again). This coarse time resolution does not reflect annual variability, for example caused by natural disturbances, which led policy makers to question why they could not identify the effect of dramatic events in the time series of forest inventory data.
For this reason, the French GHG inventory developed a simple model to combine the 5-yearly forest inventory data with annual statistics on harvest, collected by the ministry in charge of the wood industry. This latter dataset is less accurate than the inventory but has a finer time resolution. Combining these two existing sets of information allows France to track the annual effects of natural disturbances and forestry practices while maintaining the best possible accuracy over the long term.
Frequently, different data can exist for the same type of parameter, and it is sometimes difficult to know which one to prioritise. It is also common to have data with high spatial resolution and data with high temporal resolution but none combining the two dimensions, although it would be useful.
Two distinct methods are used to estimate forest harvests in France:
A ‘direct’ method of wood removals by the national forest inventory. The estimate provides volumes harvested over rolling 5-year periods over big regions. This data is considered reliable for 5-year periods.
A ‘model’ method by which the annual harvest level is estimated from various timber sales and wood energy consumption statistics, via a model that makes it possible to estimate the timber harvest and its destination.
The ‘model’ approach is calibrated on the ‘direct’ method so that the cumulated total of the model method corresponds to the ‘direct’ method over the long term. This calibration is not made on the basis of the 5-year periods which have high variability but on the entire period covered by the inventory (i.e. from 2005 to the previous year). The calibration modifies the result of the ‘model’ method by a few percents over the entire time series. This allows the reporting of annual variations while maintaining the best possible accuracy over the long term.
In addition, the model approach makes it possible to estimate harvest since 1990 and thereby allows reporting since 1990. The calibration procedure guarantees time-series consistency, as requested by the IPCC Guidelines.
Figure 1: Combination of two datasets to increase time resolution while maintaining the best possible accuracy level (harvest in forests in kt C/yr.)
Source: Own compilation based on 2023 National inventory of France.
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Ireland has experienced a fast evolution of methodology of the reporting of GHGs from grassland and wetlands that was influenced by a close collaboration between the communities of GHG reporting and research. A basis for this is the involvement of GHG inventory staff members in research projects as discussed by this case study.
Iceland still lacks country specific data for applying higher tier methodologies and approaches, especially for grasslands, croplands and wetlands. A case study presents how the country established an “improvement group” for advancing GHG reporting.
Moving to higher tiers often requires moving from default emissions factors and parameters, using more relevant values from national or regional studies. This case study presents how a regional project covering European Mediterranean countries developed information on carbon stocks and fluxes for living biomass in cropland and grasslands to improve the LULUCF monitoring in this region with specific ecological conditions.
Croatia needed to develop a geographically-explicit approach for land monitoring. This case study presents a LIFE-funded project that is aimed at creating such approach, using different earth observation products. The creation of a national land-use change timeseries has many policy implications for Croatia.
According to UNFCCC rules, LULUCF reporting from grassland and cropland should include the impact of trees and other woody vegetation . Trees on agricultural land in the EU have significant biomass production, which is not consistently recorded in the GHG inventories of Member States. Nor are Trees outside forests consistently reported in the GHG inventories of Member States.
Environmental policies are often based on a benchmark: maximum level of pollution allowed threshold above which further action is subsidized, etc. Improving the local relevance of the benchmark increases the cost-efficiency of a policy. Denmark has already applied this rationale to two environmental policies: peatland rewetting and nitrogen limits.
Like many countries, Canada was confronted with the challenges of timely reporting and the combining of multiple datasets for estimating forest emissions and removals. To address these challenges, Canada developed the Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector (CBM-CFS3) . It is a complex Tier 3 model that can be used for other purposes and by other stakeholders (e.g. projections, harvest strategy, fire prevention).
Over the past few years in France, farmers have received incentives to define the GHG budget of their farm and identify climate mitigation levers through numerous channels. However, the synergies with the national GHG inventory and public policies are still underexploited.
A discrepancy of 500,000 ha in forest area in Romania was found when comparing national legal forest maps and National Forest Inventory information. This case study describes how Romania has set up a multi-data integration system to more accurately assess time series of forest cover dynamics.
Portugal has developed its own land use and land-use change map that is a good example of a geographically-explicit approach to monitoring areas for the LULUCF inventory with a temporal consistency. This case study also presents Portugal’s method to cover past periods.
This case study presents how France implemented a new geographically-explicit method to move from Approach 2 to Approach 3 for land representation. This method combines several national and European datasets within a high-resolution grid, using hierarchy rules and correspondence between nomenclatures.
To visualize priority areas for the LULUCF monitoring and mitigation actions, various environmental geospatial products are available from national, European or international products. In this case study, we present Italy’s national portal that displays such maps.
Agricultural use of organic soils contributes substantially to GHG emissions from organic soils. The Austrian Environment Agency addresses these questions in a project aiming to improve the estimates of drained organic soils in the Austrian National GHG Inventory
Ireland has experienced a fast evolution of methodology of the reporting of GHGs from grassland and wetlands that was influenced by a close collaboration between the communities of GHG reporting and research. A basis for this is the involvement of GHG inventory staff members in research projects as discussed by this case study.
Iceland still lacks country specific data for applying higher tier methodologies and approaches, especially for grasslands, croplands and wetlands. A case study presents how the country established an “improvement group” for advancing GHG reporting.
Moving to higher tiers often requires moving from default emissions factors and parameters, using more relevant values from national or regional studies. This case study presents how a regional project covering European Mediterranean countries developed information on carbon stocks and fluxes for living biomass in cropland and grasslands to improve the LULUCF monitoring in this region with specific ecological conditions.
Croatia needed to develop a geographically-explicit approach for land monitoring. This case study presents a LIFE-funded project that is aimed at creating such approach, using different earth observation products. The creation of a national land-use change timeseries has many policy implications for Croatia.
