Chapter 7 Australian Participation in the IPCCC

Australian Input to IPCCC Assessments > Special Report on Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry

The Special Report on Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry was approved at the 16th session of the IPCC in Montreal in May 2000. The issue of greenhouse gas sources and sinks associated with the land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) sectors assumed considerable significance to the UNFCCC negotiations following the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in December 1997. The IPCC was requested by the SBSTA to prepare a Special Report to inform the negotiations on modalities and guidelines for accounting for emissions and removals through LULUCF related processes through the Kyoto Protocol.

Special Reports are generally approved by the Working Group (or Groups, in joint session) that oversaw their preparation and this is deemed to be equivalent to approval by the IPCC as a whole. However, while the Special Report on Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry was coordinated by Working Group II, it was submitted for approval to a session of the IPCC itself, in recognition of the breadth of issues addressed by the report as well as of its importance to the UNFCCC, and in particular the Kyoto Protocol, negotiations. The structure of the writing team for the land use report also reflected the significance of the report, with the team being chaired by the Chairman of the IPCC (R Watson), supported by three overall report coordinators.

Several Australian scientists contributed to the Special Report, as follows:

• Report Coordinator: I Noble;
• Global perspective: W Steffen (lead author);
• Implications of different definitions and generic issues: I Noble (coordinating lead author), M Kirschbaum (lead author);
• Afforestation, reforestation and deforestation activities, Article 3.3: M Kirschbaum (lead author);
• Additional human-induced activities, Article 3.4: M Howden (lead author); and
• Implications of the Kyoto Protocol for the reporting guidelines: G Farquhar (coordinating lead author).