CONSEIL NATIONAL CLIMAT Gabon’s Proposed National REDD+ Forest Reference Level Gabonese Republic February 2021 GABON’S FOREST REFERENCE LEVEL SUBMISSION FOR TECHNICAL REVIEW Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................. 11 NATIONAL FOCAL POINT ............................................................................................................... 11 TECHNICAL CONTRIBUTORS .......................................................................................................... 11 LIST OF ACRONYMS ....................................................................................................................... 12 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 14 1.1 NATIONAL CONTEXT OF GABON ................................................................................................... 14 1.2 RELEVANT INSTITUTIONAL AND LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK ................................................................... 16 1.2.1 INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR GABON’S NATIONAL FOREST MONITORING SYSTEM ......................... 19 1.3 GABON’S POLITICAL COMMITMENT TO PROTECT ITS FORESTS – THE STORY .............................................. 19 1.4 GABON’S RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS ........................................................................ 24 2 FOREST DEFINITION ................................................................................................................ 27 3 SCALE ..................................................................................................................................... 27 4 SCOPE .................................................................................................................................... 27 5 REFERENCE PERIODS ............................................................................................................... 27 6 POOLS AND GASES .................................................................................................................. 27 6.1 POOLS ................................................................................................................................... 27 6.2 GASES ................................................................................................................................... 28 7 LAND REPRESENTATION .......................................................................................................... 28 7.1 CLIMATE ................................................................................................................................ 28 7.2 SOIL ..................................................................................................................................... 29 7.3 BIOMASS / ECOLOGICAL ZONES .................................................................................................... 29 7.3.1 IPCC LAND-USE CATEGORIES AND NATIONAL FOREST SUBDIVISIONS ....................................................... 30 7.4 MANAGEMENT PRACTICES .......................................................................................................... 32 7.4.1 NATIONAL LAND TENURE ............................................................................................................... 32 2 GABON’S FOREST REFERENCE LEVEL SUBMISSION FOR TECHNICAL REVIEW 7.4.2 REDD+ ACTIVITIES ....................................................................................................................... 34 7.4.2.1 Deforestation ........................................................................................................................ 34 7.4.2.2 Forest degradation ............................................................................................................... 34 7.4.2.3 Sustainable Management of Forests (SMF) .......................................................................... 34 7.4.2.4 Conservation of forest carbon stocks ................................................................................... 34 7.4.2.5 Enhancement of forest carbon stocks .................................................................................. 35 7.5 ORGANISATION OF REPORTING .................................................................................................... 35 7.5.1 BIOMASS LOSSES ......................................................................................................................... 35 7.5.1.1 Forest Land converted to non-Forest Land-use categories ................................................... 35 7.5.1.2 Forest Land remaining Forest Land ....................................................................................... 36 7.5.1.3 Carbon biomass losses inside logging concessions ............................................................... 36 7.5.2 BIOMASS GAINS ........................................................................................................................... 36 7.5.2.1 Non-Forest Land-use categories to Forest Land ................................................................... 36 7.5.2.2 Forest Land remaining Forest Land ....................................................................................... 36 7.5.2.3 Carbon biomass gains inside logging concessions ................................................................ 36 7.5.3 SUMMARY OF REPORTING ORGANISATION ......................................................................................... 37 8 UPWARDS ADJUSTMENT ......................................................................................................... 38 9 COMPLIANCE WITH IPCC GUIDANCE AND GUIDELINES ............................................................. 38 9.1 GOOD PRACTICE ...................................................................................................................... 38 9.2 TIERS AND APPROACHES ............................................................................................................. 39 9.3 CONSISTENCY WITH THE NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GAS INVENTORY ........................................................ 40 10 INFORMATION USED TO CONSTRUCT THE FRL ....................................................................... 40 10.1 ACTIVITY DATA ...................................................................................................................... 40 10.1.1 ACTIVITY DATA DERIVED FROM REMOTE SENSING ............................................................................. 40 10.1.1.1 Sampling design .................................................................................................................. 40 10.1.1.2 Identification of land cover and land-use types .................................................................. 43 10.1.1.3 Rules for distinguishing between different forest cover change events ............................. 43 10.1.1.4 Analysis by National Land Tenure ....................................................................................... 45 10.1.1.5 Discrepancies between the “start” and “end” years for each assessment period .............. 46 10.1.1.6 Forest cover and change statistics for Gabon ..................................................................... 47 10.1.1.7 Activity Data for Biomass losses from Forest Land converted to non-Forest Land-use Categories 49 10.1.1.7.1 Justification for excluding data on forest cover losses detected by remote sensing from logging concessions ............................................................................................................................. 51 10.1.1.8 Activity Data derived for biomass losses in Forest Land remaining Forest Land ................. 53 10.1.2 ACTIVITY DATA DERIVED FROM VOLUME ESTIMATES FOR LOGGING ...................................................... 55 3 GABON’S FOREST REFERENCE LEVEL SUBMISSION FOR TECHNICAL REVIEW 10.1.2.1 Considerations for obtaining the most accurate source of Activity Data for logging emissions 55 10.1.2.2 Analysis and treatment of timber production volume data ................................................ 55 10.1.2.3 Activity Data derived for logging emissions. ....................................................................... 57 10.1.3 ACTIVITY DATA FOR BIOMASS GAINS ............................................................................................. 59 10.1.3.1 Step 1. Organisation of forest regeneration data ............................................................... 59 10.1.3.2 Step 2. Creation of Forest Cover matrices .......................................................................... 59 10.1.3.3 Step 3. Interpolation of data to create annual time series ................................................. 60 10.1.3.4 Step 4. Estimation of the area of Logged Forest ................................................................. 60 10.1.3.4.1 Logged Forest in Protected Areas .................................................................................... 62 10.1.3.4.2 Logged Forest in Logging Concessions ............................................................................. 63 10.1.3.5 Step 5. Integration of Logged Forest into the forest cover matrices. .................................. 63 10.1.3.6 Step 6. Interpretation of forest types to apply