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Land use, land-use change and forestry sector

Changes in the amount of carbon removed by, and emitted from, vegetation and soil as a result of human activity are covered in the land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector. This sector also includes emissions of nitrous oxide and methane resulting from land-use activity, and carbon dioxide from liming soils. These emissions are reported within six land-use categories as defined by the IPCC inventory guidelines. These categories are forest land, cropland, grassland, wetlands, settlements, and other land.

Transfers of land use from one category to another can result in changes in emissions or removals. Some categories of land staying in the same land use are currently assumed to be in steady-state whereby they are neither gaining nor losing carbon eg, grassland or natural forests. For other categories, such as growing plantation forests, the land use is not changing but forest growth removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores it as biomass. Emissions can arise from the burning and decay of biomass and changes in soil carbon.

In New Zealand, the LULUCF sector is a net carbon sink. In 2007, net removals from LULUCF were 23.8 Mt CO2-e. This is an increase of 31 per cent (5.7 Mt CO2-e) from the 1990 level of 18.1 Mt CO2-e. The trend observed in the LULUCF sector reflects New Zealand’s changing land use and forestry activity, particularly during the 1990s (Figure 12). Figure 13 provides an indication of the emissions and removals profile from the LULUCF sector in 2007.

Removals from LULUCF were 25.1 Mt CO2-e in 2007. This has included carbon dioxide emitted from harvested forests, but excludes all other reported LULUCF emissions. Of these removals, forest land accounted for 24.6 Mt CO2-e (98 per cent), an increase of 32 per cent (5.9 Mt CO2-e) from the 1990 level of 18.7 Mt CO2-e. Removals fluctuate with annual forest planting and harvesting. Cropland accounted for the remaining 2 per cent (0.6 Mt CO2-e).

In 2007, non-harvesting emissions from LULUCF were 1.3 Mt CO2-e, an increase of 24 per cent (0.3 Mt CO2-e) from the 1990 level of 1.0 Mt CO2-e. The emissions from LULUCF in 2007 include the following:

  • liming of soils produced 0.6 Mt CO2-e, an increase of 70 per cent (0.3 Mt CO2-e) from the 1990 level of 0.4 Mt CO2
  • conversion to grassland produced 0.4 Mt CO2-e, a decrease of 10 per cent (0.05 Mt CO2-e) from the 1990 level of 0.5 Mt CO2-e
  • biomass burning accounted for 0.07 Mt CO2-e, an increase of 24 per cent (0.01 Mt CO2-e) from the 1990 level of 0.05 Mt CO2-e
  • other land-use changes accounted for 0.15 Mt CO2-e, an increase of 20 per cent (0.02 Mt CO2-e) since the 1990 level of 0.12 Mt CO2-e.

The 2009 inventory submission includes a provisional estimate of 10,000 hectares of deforestation in 2007.  Updated information in April 2009 indicates the area of deforestation in 2007 was in the range of 15,000–20,000 hectares. Based on this information, a provisional calculation indicates that LULUCF net removals would be in the vicinity of 19 to 21 Mt CO2-e. The recalculation for the updated area will be included in the 2010 submission.

Figure 12: LULUCF sector net removals: 1990–2007
Figure 12: LULUCF sector net removals: 1990–2007

Note: The dotted lines and empty markers for 2007 provide an indicative range of net removals once updated deforestation data is included in the 2010 submission.

Text description for figure 12

Results from New Zealand’s Land Use and Carbon Analysis System (LUCAS) will improve the reporting for the LULUCF sector and provide consistency with reporting under the Kyoto Protocol. LUCAS will use satellite and photographic imagery to determine changes in land use from 1990 and over the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (2008–2012). Estimates of emissions and removal factors are being updated from a comprehensive survey of a national network of permanent plots. This information will be included in the next inventory submission in 2010.

Figure 13: New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions and removals from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF)

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Figure 14: New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions

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