Uncertainty [MGD Sections]
UNFCCC decisions and requirements
IPCC good practice guidance
Significance and key category analysis
Design decisions relevant to national forest monitoring systems
Quality assurance and quality control
Practical considerations in choosing an integration tool
Estimating uncertainty of area and change in area
Estimating total emissions/removals and its uncertainty
Guiding principles – Estimation and uncertainty
Reporting and verification of emissions and removals
Financial considerations
Sampling
Relative efficiencies
Developing and using allometric models to estimate biomass
IPCC good practice guidance
Significance and key category analysis
Design decisions relevant to national forest monitoring systems
Quality assurance and quality control
Practical considerations in choosing an integration tool
Estimating uncertainty of area and change in area
Estimating total emissions/removals and its uncertainty
Guiding principles – Estimation and uncertainty
Reporting and verification of emissions and removals
Financial considerations
Sampling
Relative efficiencies
Developing and using allometric models to estimate biomass
Remote Sensing Observations [MGD Sections]
UNFCCC decisions and requirements
IPCC good practice guidance
Relationship to UNFCCC
GHGI coverage, approaches, methods and tiers
Design decisions relevant to national forest monitoring systems
Land cover, land use and stratification
Forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels
Quality assurance and quality control
Guiding principles – Requirements and design decisions
Estimation methods for REDD+ activities
Integration frameworks for estimating emission and removals
Selecting an integration framework
Activity data x emission/removal factor tools
Fully integrated tools
Practical considerations in choosing an integration tool
Guiding principles – Methods and approaches
Remote sensing observations
Coarse resolution optical data
Medium resolution optical data
High resolution optical data
L-band Synthetic aperture radar
C-band and X-band SAR
LIDAR
Global forest cover change datasets
Ground-based observations
National forest inventories
Auxiliary data
Guiding principles – Remote sensing and ground-based observations
Activity data
Methods for estimating activity data
Maps of forest/non-forest, land use, or forest stratification
Detecting areas of change
Additional map products from remote sensing
Estimating uncertainty of area and change in area
Estimating total emissions/removals and its uncertainty
REDD+ requirements and procedures
Reporting forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels
Technical assessment of forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels
Reporting results of REDD+ activities
Technical analysis of the REDD+ annex to the BUR
Additional advice on REDD+ reporting and verification
Guiding Principles – Reporting and verification of emissions and removals
Financial considerations
Country examples – Tier 3 integration
Use of global forest change map data
Relative efficiencies
Developing and using allometric models to estimate biomass
IPCC good practice guidance
Relationship to UNFCCC
GHGI coverage, approaches, methods and tiers
Design decisions relevant to national forest monitoring systems
Land cover, land use and stratification
Forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels
Quality assurance and quality control
Guiding principles – Requirements and design decisions
Estimation methods for REDD+ activities
Integration frameworks for estimating emission and removals
Selecting an integration framework
Activity data x emission/removal factor tools
Fully integrated tools
Practical considerations in choosing an integration tool
Guiding principles – Methods and approaches
Remote sensing observations
Coarse resolution optical data
Medium resolution optical data
High resolution optical data
L-band Synthetic aperture radar
C-band and X-band SAR
LIDAR
Global forest cover change datasets
Ground-based observations
National forest inventories
Auxiliary data
Guiding principles – Remote sensing and ground-based observations
Activity data
Methods for estimating activity data
Maps of forest/non-forest, land use, or forest stratification
Detecting areas of change
Additional map products from remote sensing
Estimating uncertainty of area and change in area
Estimating total emissions/removals and its uncertainty
REDD+ requirements and procedures
Reporting forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels
Technical assessment of forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels
Reporting results of REDD+ activities
Technical analysis of the REDD+ annex to the BUR
Additional advice on REDD+ reporting and verification
Guiding Principles – Reporting and verification of emissions and removals
Financial considerations
Country examples – Tier 3 integration
Use of global forest change map data
Relative efficiencies
Developing and using allometric models to estimate biomass
Record Keeping [MGD Sections]
Measurement, reporting and verification processes
Operational requirements
Guiding principles – Institutional arrangements
GHGI coverage, approaches, methods and tiers
Significance and key category analysis
Design decisions relevant to national forest monitoring systems
Quality assurance and quality control
Reporting and verification of emissions and removals
REDD+ requirements and procedures
Reporting forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels
Technical assessment of forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels
Reporting results of REDD+ activities
Technical analysis of the REDD+ annex to the BUR
Additional advice on REDD+ reporting and verification
Guiding Principles – Reporting and verification of emissions and removals
Operational requirements
Guiding principles – Institutional arrangements
GHGI coverage, approaches, methods and tiers
Significance and key category analysis
Design decisions relevant to national forest monitoring systems
Quality assurance and quality control
Reporting and verification of emissions and removals
REDD+ requirements and procedures
Reporting forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels
Technical assessment of forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels
Reporting results of REDD+ activities
Technical analysis of the REDD+ annex to the BUR
Additional advice on REDD+ reporting and verification
Guiding Principles – Reporting and verification of emissions and removals
Integration + Estimation [MGD Sections]
GHGI coverage, approaches, methods and tiers
Design decisions relevant to national forest monitoring systems
Guiding principles – Requirements and design decisions
Estimation methods for REDD+ activities
Integration frameworks for estimating emission and removals
Selecting an integration framework
Activity data x emission/removal factor tools
Fully integrated tools
Practical considerations in choosing an integration tool
Guiding principles – Methods and approaches
Reporting forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels
Technical assessment of forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels
Reporting results of REDD+ activities
Guiding Principles – Reporting and verification of emissions and removals
Financial considerations
Country examples – Tier 3 integration
Design decisions relevant to national forest monitoring systems
Guiding principles – Requirements and design decisions
Estimation methods for REDD+ activities
Integration frameworks for estimating emission and removals
Selecting an integration framework
Activity data x emission/removal factor tools
Fully integrated tools
Practical considerations in choosing an integration tool
Guiding principles – Methods and approaches
Reporting forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels
Technical assessment of forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels
Reporting results of REDD+ activities
Guiding Principles – Reporting and verification of emissions and removals
Financial considerations
Country examples – Tier 3 integration
Ground Based Observations [MGD Sections]
UNFCCC decisions and requirements
IPCC good practice guidance
GHGI coverage, approaches, methods and tiers
Significance and key category analysis
Design decisions relevant to national forest monitoring systems
Land cover, land use and stratification
Forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels
Quality assurance and quality control
Guiding principles – Requirements and design decisions
Estimation methods for REDD+ activities
Integration frameworks for estimating emission and removals
Selecting an integration framework
Activity data x emission/removal factor tools
Fully integrated tools
Practical considerations in choosing an integration tool
Guiding principles – Methods and approaches
Ground-based observations
National forest inventories
Intensive monitoring sites
Auxiliary data
Guiding principles – Remote sensing and ground-based observations
Emissions/removals factors
Above- and belowground biomass
Dead wood and litter pools
Soil organic carbon
Emissions from prescribed fires and wildfires
National choices in emissions and removals factor estimation
Emission and removal factor uncertainties
Estimating total emissions/removals and its uncertainty
Guiding principles – Estimation and uncertainty
Reporting and verification of emissions and removals
Financial considerations
Sampling
Country examples – Tier 3 integration
Brief review of the potential for estimation of biomass by remote sensing
mgd_Appendix_H
IPCC good practice guidance
GHGI coverage, approaches, methods and tiers
Significance and key category analysis
Design decisions relevant to national forest monitoring systems
Land cover, land use and stratification
Forest reference emission levels and forest reference levels
Quality assurance and quality control
Guiding principles – Requirements and design decisions
Estimation methods for REDD+ activities
Integration frameworks for estimating emission and removals
Selecting an integration framework
Activity data x emission/removal factor tools
Fully integrated tools
Practical considerations in choosing an integration tool
Guiding principles – Methods and approaches
Ground-based observations
National forest inventories
Intensive monitoring sites
Auxiliary data
Guiding principles – Remote sensing and ground-based observations
Emissions/removals factors
Above- and belowground biomass
Dead wood and litter pools
Soil organic carbon
Emissions from prescribed fires and wildfires
National choices in emissions and removals factor estimation
Emission and removal factor uncertainties
Estimating total emissions/removals and its uncertainty
Guiding principles – Estimation and uncertainty
Reporting and verification of emissions and removals
Financial considerations
Sampling
Country examples – Tier 3 integration
Brief review of the potential for estimation of biomass by remote sensing
mgd_Appendix_H
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3.2.2 Activity data x emission/removal factor tools
There are three main tools that have been developed around the activity data x emission/removal factor method(1): EXACT
, ALU
and IPCC tools
. The IPCC and ALU tools have gained widespread use and are being continually updated to ensure compliance with good practice. Both generate outputs that meet the requirements of the 2006GL.



Tabulated activity data generated from remote sensing observations can be entered into all of these tools. The ALU tool (Box 12) is also capable of using GIS data to develop spatially-explicit estimates of emissions, but is not able to support the more sophisticated pixel or stand-based approaches and cannot easily track multiple changes in land use on a single land unit.
Box 12: Agriculture and land use greenhouse gas inventory (ALU) software
The agriculture and land use greenhouse gas inventory (ALU) software
guides an inventory compiler through the process of estimating greenhouse gas emissions and removals related to agricultural and forestry activities. The software simplifies the process of conducting the inventory by dividing the inventory analysis into steps to facilitate the compilation of activity data, assignment of emission/removal factors and completion of the calculations. The software also has internal checks to ensure data integrity. Many governments also have an interest in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and forestry. Determining mitigation potential requires an understanding of both current emission trends and the influence of alternative land use and management practices on future emissions. The ALU software program is designed to support an evaluation of mitigation potentials using the inventory data as a baseline for projecting emission trends associated with management alternatives.

ALU can be used to estimate emissions and removals associated with biomass C stocks, soil C stocks, soil nitrous oxide emissions, rice methane emissions, enteric methane emissions, manure methane and nitrous oxide emissions, as well as non-CO2 GHG emissions from biomass burning. Methods are based on IPCC guidelines.
Two versions of the ALU software are available:
- Version 5.0 based on the methods in the 2006GL
- Version 4.5 based on the methods in the revised 96GL and refined in the 2000 and GPG2003.
The software has several innovative features including:
- Accommodates Tier 1 and 2 methods as defined by the IPCC
- Allows compilers to integrate GIS spatial data along with national statistics on agriculture and forestry
- Designed to produce a consistent and complete representation of land use for inventory assessment
- Can develop an enhanced characterization for livestock
- Has explicit quality control and quality assurance steps
- Provides a long-term archive of data and results in digital format
- Generates emission reports that can be included in communications with interested parties.
(1) | These tools typically support Tier 1, and in some cases, Tier 2 methods |