2.2.1.1. Land Use
The terms "land cover" and "land use" are often confused. Land cover
is "the observed physical and biological cover of the earth's land, as vegetation
or man-made features." In contrast, land use is "the total of arrangements,
activities, and inputs that people undertake in a certain land cover type" (FAO,
1997a; FAO/UNEP, 1999). National categories of land use differ, but many have
been harmonized under the influence of FAO's periodical World Census of Agriculture
(Table 2-1). Categories of land cover/use systems are
used in Chapter 4 (Section 4.4)
to illustrate the expected potential for carbon sequestration from a change
in system management (e.g., intensification or extensification) or upon conversion
from one category to another.
|
Table 2-1: Land-use categories recognized in FAO's World Census
of Agriculture (FAO, 1986, 1995a; FAO/UNEP, 1999).
|
|
| In Sequence of Increasing Intensity of Use |
Chapter 4 Equivalents
|
|
| (a) Deserts (barren land and waste land) |
-
|
|
| (b) Non-Forest Wooded Lands (scrubland; may include national parks
and wilderness recreational areas) |
-
|
|
| (c) Wetlands, Non-Forest (marshes) |
Wetlands
|
|
| (d) Land under Forest (natural forests and most non-managed woodlands)
|
Forest Land
|
|
| (e) Land under Forestry/Silviculture |
Forest Land
|
|
| (f) Land under Shifting Cultivation (temporarily abandoned land
that is not part of a holding) |
Agroforestry Land
|
|
| (g) Land under Agroforestry (permanent use of land at holding level,
but with mixed crop growing, animal herding, and tree utilization) |
Agroforestry Land
|
|
| (h) Land with Temporary Fallow (resting for a period of time, less
than 5 years, before it is planted again with annual crops) |
Cropland
|
|
| (i) Land under Permanent Meadows and Pastures [used for herbaceous
forage crops that are either managed/cultivated (pastures) or growing wild
(grazing land); trees and shrubs may be present or grown purposely, but
foraging is the most important use of the area; grazed woodlands] |
Rangeland/Grasslands
|
|
| (j) Land under Temporary Meadows and Pastures (cultivated temporarily,
for less than 5 years, for herbaceous forage crops, mowing, or pasturing,
in alternation with arable cropping) |
Rangeland/Grasslands
|
|
| (k) Land under Permanent Crops (perennials; cultivated with long-term
crops that do not have to be replanted for several years after each harvest;
harvested components are not timber but fruits, latex, and other products
that do not significantly harm the growth of the planted trees or shrubs:
orchards, vineyards, rubber and oil palm plantations, coffee, tea, sisal,
etc.) |
Agroforestry Land
|
|
| (l) Land under Temporary Crops (annuals; cultivated with crops
with a growing cycle of under 1 year, which must be newly sown or planted
for further production after harvesting; not only small grain crops such
as beets, wheat, and soy bean but also bi-annuals that are destroyed at
harvesting, such as cassava, yams, and sugarcane; bananas are transitional
to the permanent crops category) |
Cropland
|
|
| (m) Land under Temporary Crops Requiring Wetland Conditions [wet-foot
crops such as irrigated rice and jute (dry-foot crops with intermittent
irrigation included in other categories)] |
Wetlands
|
|
| (n) Land under Protective Cover (greenhouses and other urban or
peri-urban intensive use, formal or informal; vegetable growing, home gardening,
residential parks, golf courses, etc.) |
Peri-Urban Land
|
|
| (o) Land under Residential/Industrial/Transportation Facilities |
Peri-Urban Land
|
|
2.2.1.2. Forestry
A common dictionary and glossary definition of forestry is "the science, art,
and practice of managing and using for human benefit the natural resources that
occur on and in association with forest lands." Thus forestry is a broader
term than silviculture, which refers more specifically to the planting
and tending of growing trees. For the purposes of this Special Report, forestry
is taken to include a wide range of activities in addition to those associated
with silviculture, including the production of non-timber products, watershed
management, wildlife protection, and eco-tourism and extending to activities
such as pest control and fire management. The question remains, however: What
are forest lands?
Although forest land has many national definitions, many of these definitions
have the following in common: "All lands bearing vegetative associations dominated
by trees of any size, exploited or not, capable of producing wood or other forest
products, of exerting an influence on climate or on water regime, or providing
shelter for livestock or wildlife. Includes lands which have been clear-cut
or burned but which will be reforested in the foreseeable future. Excludes orchards,
shelter belts, groups of trees along roads or city parks" (Encyclopaedia Britannica,
1970). Woodlands and treed wetlands that fit the minimum definitions of forest
are usually included.
These definitions, however, have been developed for a variety of purposes that
rarely include aspects of measuring carbon stocks and changes in stocks as required
by the Protocol. Thus, Section 2.2.2 deals in more detail
with the definitions of a forest and associated terms in the context of the
Protocol.
2.2.2. Definitions of Forests
Forests are usually composed of many individual stands in different stages
of development and with different characteristics. Thus, a forest can include
a range of different forested ecosystems composed of different species and different
ages and having different carbon stock densities (t C ha-1). In this Special
Report, the term forest refers to the whole forest (as a landscape), including
its forest stands (its component units). The term stand is used where necessary
for clarity.
Many definitions of forest are in use throughout the world, reflecting wide
differences in biogeophysical conditions, social structures, and economies.
Lund (1999) listed about 240 such definitions. Most countries have developed
very specific definitions that are suitable for their own administrative purposes
and reflect their forests' ecological conditions. In seeking a set of definitions
for the Protocol, it must be recognized that many national agencies have invested
significantly in databases that are founded on their own definitions. Many agencies
will be unwilling or unable to reformulate that information if arbitrary definitions
devised to implement the Protocol are too dissimilar from their own.
|