A Carbon Monitoring System for Tropical Countries © Richard A. Houghton, Ph.D. Deputy Director and Senior Scientist

Dr. Houghton is an ecologist with interests in the role that terrestrial ecosystems play in and the global carbon cycle. He co-ordinates the Center’s eff orts to understand the problems of global warming and climate change, especially the role biotic systems play in this accelerating process. Dr. Houghton has held positions as Assistant Scientist at the Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological Labora- tory and as Research Associate at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He earned his doctorate in ecology from SUNY at Stony Brook.

Nadine T. Laporte, Ph.D. Associate Scientist

Dr. Laporte is the director of the Center’s Africa Program. A biologist, her research focuses on the applications of satellite imagery to tropical Tropical countries must identify and initiate policies and practices forest ecosystems, including vegetation mapping, land-use change, and that alleviate poverty through innovative market-based approach- . She has been involved in numerous environmental proj- es while conserving natural resources. Countries must also report ects in Central Africa over the past ten years, working with in-coun- on how their activities have contributed or mitigated to climate try scientists, foresters, and international conservation organizations change, for example, through reducing emissions of greenhouse to develop integrated forest monitoring systems and promote forest gases or enhancing carbon sequestration. Th e diffi culty in report- conservation. She received her doctorate in tropical biogeography from ing successes in reducing emissions from land-use l’Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France. change or sequestering carbon is often the lack of a uniform and quantitative approach for measurement and monitoring changes Th e Woods Hole Research Center is dedicated to science, education in the amount of carbon stored in vegetation and soils at the and public policy for a habitable Earth, seeking to conserve and sustain national level. forests, soils, water, and energy by demonstrating their value to human well-being and economic prosperity. Th e Center has initiatives in the Amazon, the Arctic, Africa, Russia, Boreal North America, the Mid-At- lantic, and New England including Cape Cod. Center programs focus on the global carbon cycle, forest function, landcover/, water Th e Woods Hole Research Center cycles and chemicals in the environment, science in public aff airs, and Falmouth, Massachusetts 02540 education, providing primary data and enabling better appraisals of the © whrc.org trends in forests alter their role in the global carbon budget. A Carbon Monitoring System for Tropical Forests Case Study: How much CO2 was emitted from the Budongo Forest Reserve area between 1986 and 2002 due to land cover change? Using satellite imagery from Landsat to estimate rates of deforestation (Figure1) and Figure 1 MODIS to estimate biomass (Figure 2). We estimated that 619 ha/yr of forest were converted to agriculture for the 1986-2002 period around the Budongo forest reserve (99 km2). Decreasing the above carbon stock from 170tC/ha to 1.5 tC/ha. Th e carbon lost per year can be estimated to be 0.104 Million metric tons C/yr corresponding to 1.67 million metric tons C over the 16 years for this small area. Th is case study could be applied nationally and in various countries Th e Woods Hole Research Center is actively calculating the emissions using also radar imagery to estimate carbon of from tropical deforestation in several countries. It dynamics. Such monitoring system can be requires two types of information and a simple model. Th e types of easily implemented in developing countries information include rates of deforestation and reforestation (Figure providing information needed to implement towns 1), and the stocks of carbon in forests and the lands that replace them new policies such as the “Reduce Emis- roads sions from Deforestation and Degradation” (Figure 2). Both types of information may be obtained from satellites, waterbodies (REDD). supplemented with ground information where available. Th e carbon deforestation model has been used for more than 25 years to calculate sources and forest Figure 2 sinks of carbon for large regions of the world. It can be used for areas degraded forest of any size, from individual projects to entire countries and regions. Th e approach provides an un-biased, quantifi able measurement of farmland land-cover change, the changes in carbon that result, and the annual BiomassBiomass (T/h) sources and sinks of carbon. Th e approach can also be used in a “what if” mode to defi ne the eff ects of alternative policies in modifying 3 emissions of carbon. 24 58 In addition, the Woods Hole Research Center works closely with 83 national institutions on technical training, enabling countries to implement their carbon monitoring system and scale results nationaly 103 for carbon accounting. Th e tools developed by the Center will facili- 165 tate construction of emissions inventories, thereby enabling reporting 220 directly to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. 265

Th is research is supported by the NASA Land Cover Land Use Change Program (Garick 301 Gutman) and the NASA Application program (WoodyTurner). 330