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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5.2.4 Emissions from prescribed fires and wildfires
Biomass burning occurs in many types of land uses causing emissions of CO2, CH4, N2O, CO, and NOx. The IPCC provides Tier 1 methods for estimating emissions from two general types of biomass burning: burning within managed forests (i.e. forest land remaining forest land) and burning in the course of land use conversion (i.e. Land converted to Forest land; Land converted to Cropland; Land converted to Grassland).
IPCC methods group fires into two categories: prescribed (or controlled) fires and wildfires. Prescribed fires include: (i) land clearing fires in the course of forest conversion, (ii) slash-and-burn agriculture, (iii) post-logging burning of harvest residues (slash); and (iv) low-intensity prescribed fire for fuel load management. Wildfires are typically more variable (i.e. in temperature and thoroughness of biomass combustion) than prescribed fires making estimation of emissions from these events more difficult.
In accordance with IPCC(1), when managed land is burned, emissions resulting from both prescribed fires and wildfires should be reported so that carbon losses and non-CO2 GHG emissions on managed lands are taken into consideration.(2)
At Tier 1 IPCC assumes that emissions from fire are the sum of the area burnt multiplied by the fuel available for combustion per unit area taking into consideration the fraction of available fuel combusted and the mass of each GHG emitted per unit of fuel combusted(3). Emissions of each gas are estimated individually, and then are summed to give the total GHG emissions due to fire. The location of relevant IPCC Tier 1 factors are summarised in Table 18 below.
Table 18: IPCC emissions factors for prescribed fires and wildfires
Parameter | 2003 Good Practice Guidance | 2006 Guidelines |
Fuel burnt | Table 3.A.1.13 ![]() | |
Available Fuel | ||
NonCO2 emissions from C released | ||
Combustion efficiency | ||
N/C ratio for the fuel burnt | 0.01 | 0.01 |
Tier 2 or 3 is required where fire is a key category of GHG emissions. Countries applying Tier 2 are likely to have national data at disaggregated level on the mass of fuel available according to forest types and management systems. Tier 3 estimation requires spatial estimates of the mass of fuel available according to different forest types, regions and management systems. Tier 3 estimation methods may also be able to distinguish fires burning at different intensities, resulting in different amounts of fuel consumption. Fully integrated, mass-balance Tier 3 systems estimate emissions based on the ecosystem type, the biomass on the site at the time of the fire and the type (e.g., wildfire, prescribed burning) and intensity of the fire. These systems also estimate the subsequent recovery from fire (uptake of CO2) and ongoing release from trees killed by the fire. These systems are particularly effective when maps of fire extent are available.
Tier 2 or 3 methods should avoid double counting of CO2 emissions from fire in particular where carbon loss is derived from repeated field measurements (i.e. NFI) since estimates of change from ground measurements could include the carbon loss from fires.
(1) | Refer to GPG2003 section 3.2.1.4.2 ![]() ![]() |
(2) | Fire impact in unmanaged forest lands should not be reported. |
(3) | Refer to chapter 3, section 3.2 of GPG2003 ![]() ![]() |