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3.1. Introduction
Article 3.3 of the Kyoto Protocol specifies that "The net changes in greenhouse
gas emissions by sources and removals by sinks resulting from direct human-induced
land-use change and forestry activities, limited to afforestation, reforestation
and deforestation since 1990, measured as verifiable changes in carbon stocks
in each commitment period, shall be used to meet the commitments under this
Article of each Party included in Annex B. The greenhouse gas emissions by sources
and removals by sinks associated with those activities shall be reported in
a transparent and verifiable manner and reviewed in accordance with Articles
7 and 8."
Article 3.3 of the Kyoto Protocol describes land-use change and forestry activities
that require GHG emissions by sources and removals by sinks to be accounted
for by Annex I Parties in the first commitment period (see Figure
3-1). These activities are restricted to afforestation, reforestation, and
deforestation. The term "ARD land" is used in this report, for simplicity, to
define areas on which ARD activities have occurred since 1990 and for which
carbon stock changes are calculated.
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Figure 3-1: Sentence structure of Article 3.3,
with parts that concern Article 3.3 in bold. The Article begins with
LUCF activities (step 1), which must be directly induced by
humans (step 2). Chapter 2 discusses whether and
how to meaningfully distinguish direct human-induced activities
from all activities in the LUCF sector. In step 3, Article 3.3 says
that direct human-induced LUCF activities are limited to ARD.
This language is seemingly straightforward except that ARD activities
must be defined, which is key to implementing Article 3.3. Step 4 requires
that only ARD activities since 1990 can be counted, and step
5 demands that these activities be measured as verifiable changes
in carbon stocks in each commitment period.
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This chapter focuses on delineating issues related to the implementation of
Article 3.3, options for implementation, and their implications. The United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and post-Kyoto clarifications
are the starting point for this work. The fourth Conference of the Parties (COP)
in November 1998 indicated that the adjustment to a Party's assigned amount
of GHG emissions shall be equal to verifiable changes in carbon stocks during
the period 2008 to 2012 resulting from DHI activities of ARD since 1 January
1990 (FCCC, 1998a; FCCC/CP/1998/L.5). The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and
Technological Advice (SBSTA) noted at its 11th session the IPCC request to Parties
to submit national data relevant to Article 3.3, preferably by the end of 1999.
Some countries provided such data for use in this report.
The wording of Article 3.3 raises several questions and potential interpretations.
How should "direct human-induced" be interpreted? Which definitions should be
used for afforestation, reforestation, and deforestation activities? Which carbon
pools should be considered? What carbon accounting rules should be employed?
We reviewed potential definitions of ARD and focused our analysis on considering
the major differences among the potential approaches to implementing Article
3.3. We then developed a set of seven definitional scenarios (combinations of
definitions of forest, afforestation, reforestation, and deforestation) that
captured the breadth of the possible definitions. We then explored the implications
of each scenario on GHG accounting; data needs; compatibility with available
data; comparability of actual and reported stock changes at stand, landscape,
and country levels; regional, country, and global potentials for ARD activities;
and environmental and socioeconomic impacts. We have tried to support the decisionmaking
process by highlighting the issues, options, and implications that are raised
by different interpretations of Articles 3.3 and 3.7. This chapter builds on
the general concepts and issues introduced in Chapter 2
(such as definitions for forest, afforestation, reforestation, deforestation,
DHI activity, carbon pools, measurement methods, carbon accounting and reporting,
associated impacts on environment, and associated socioeconomic impacts). There
are interactions between Article 3.3 and other articles of the Kyoto Protocol;
this chapter elaborates on some of these interactions-such as the possible counting
of the same carbon under Articles 3.3 and 3.4 or interactions of Article 3.3
with Article 6.
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