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2.5.2. Options for Assessing and Strengthening the Sustainable Development
Contributions of LULUCF Climate Mitigation Measures
Potential LULUCF climate mitigation measures can have highly variable environmental
and socioeconomic impacts (see Sections 2.5.1 and 5.5),
depending on the measures and the means by which they are implemented. Article
2.1(a) of the Kyoto Protocol provides an impetus for Parties to assess these
impacts to determine whether and how any LULUCF climate mitigation measures
carried out within their borders may contribute to national sustainable development
objectives. Because countries often have very different views about what constitutes
sustainable development, such national objectives might be expected to vary
widely. In addition, Article 2.1(b) provides that Parties might consider whether
and how to establish some common approaches to promoting the sustainable development
contributions of LULUCF measures-for example, to ensure that these impacts are
evaluated consistently across Parties. The Parties might also develop common
approaches to ensure that LULUCF activities and projects under the Protocol
are consistent with the goals and objectives of other multilateral environmental
agreements (Section 2.5.2.2). For projects between countries,
the Parties may also decide to assess whether potential projects are consistent
with the sustainable development objectives of investor and host countries.
Regardless of whether the Parties opt for a strictly national or multinational
approach to sustainable development, a system of criteria and indicators would
be useful for assessing and comparing sustainable development impacts across
alternative LULUCF actions. An ideal set of sustainable development indicators
would feature many of the same general characteristics as an ideal accounting
system: transparency, consistency, comparability, completeness, and accuracy.
No comprehensive set of indicators with these characteristics currently exists
for the suite of LULUCF policies and measures considered in this Special Report.
Several approaches have been developed for related purposes that the Parties
might adapt to gauge the sustainable development contributions of LULUCF definitions,
activities, and projects undertaken to mitigate GHG emissions. This section
highlights approaches that have been developed explicitly for the purposes of
assessing the environmental and/or socioeconomic impacts of policies or measures
undertaken at international, national, or project levels. These approaches are
not mutually exclusive; several could be adapted by the Parties to be used in
concert. Criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management are most
directly adaptable to specific LULUCF measures at the national and project levels
(Section 2.5.2.4.1).
The following sections briefly describe each approach and discuss key factors
that may affect its potential application to LULUCF activities and projects.
In addition, potential tools-such as environmental screens and the application
of environmental impact assessments-by which selected criteria and indicators
could be applied to strengthening the sustainable development contributions
of LULUCF activities and/or projects are identified and evaluated. As with criteria
and indicators, Parties could adopt these tools on a national or multinational
basis. More specific approaches to strengthen the national and local sustainable
development contributions of LULUCF projects are described in Section
5.6.
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