Does the Kyoto Protocol as an International Environmental Policy Promote Forest Carbon Sinks?

Under the background of carbon neutrality, the carbon sequestration of forest ecosystems is an important way to mitigate climate change. Forest could not only protect the environment but also an important industry for economic development. As an international climate policy that first recognized the role of forest carbon sinks on climate change, the question becomes, has the Kyoto Protocol promoted the development of forest carbon sinks in contracting parties? To explore this, data of forest can be obtained at the national level. Hence, data of economic, social, polity and climate in 147 countries is also collected. The generalized synthetic control method is adopted. The results show that the policy effect of the Kyoto Protocol was obvious and significant. Moreover, the effect was more significant after the enforcement in 2005. Especially after the first commitment period, the policy effect of the second period is more obvious. Some policy implications are drawn.

Valuing the Impact of Forest Disturbances on the Climate Regulation Service of Western U.S. Forests

The protection and expansion of forest carbon sinks are critical to achieving climate-change mitigation targets. Yet, the increasing frequency and severity of forest disturbances challenge the sustainable provision of forest services. We investigated patterns of forest disturbances’ impacts on carbon sinks by combining spatial datasets of forest carbon sequestration from biomass growth and emissions from fire and bark beetle damage in the western United States (U.S.) and valued the social costs of forest carbon losses. We also examined potential future trends of forest carbon sinks under two climate-change projections using a global vegetation model. We found that forest carbon losses from bark-beetle damage were larger than emissions from fires between 2003 and 2012. The cumulative social costs of forest carbon losses ranged from USD 7 billion to USD 72 billion, depending on the severity of global warming and the discount rate. Forest carbon stocks could increase around 5% under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 or 7% under RCP 8.5 by 2091 relative to 2011 levels, mostly in forests with high net primary productivity. These results indicate that spatially explicit management of forest disturbances may increase forest carbon sinks, thereby improving opportunities to achieve critical climate-change mitigation goals.

The Method of Measuring Carbon Sinks Based on the Changes of oxygen concentration in Forest Canopy

Measuring Forest Carbon Sinks is becoming a popular topic as the need of many countries’ carbon neutrality plans. We demonstrate a simple and accurate method of Forest Carbon Sinks measurement. By observing the daily average oxygen concentration in the canopy, we found it presented a parabolic distribution from Spring to Fall in a year. The forest finished the cycle from releasing oxygen and sequestrating carbon dioxide to using oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide in this period. We calculated the carbon sequestration of the forest was 101.39t/hm2/y, the Carbon Sink was 15.09t/hm2/y by calculating the changes of oxygen concentration in a growth cycle, the Carbon Sink is 16.29% of the carbon sequestration.

The bioeconomy, carbon sinks, and depoliticization in Finnish forest politics

The forest bioeconomy in Finland has emerged as a project that seeks to resolve emergent contradictions in the capitalist ecological regime and to reconfigure spatial, temporal, and economic relations. The bioeconomy rose to public consciousness during the 2010s, especially after its adoption as one of the spearhead projects of the 2015–2019 center-right coalition government. The forest industry's bioeconomic plans are also an attempt to hegemonize and depoliticize a particular political view of forests in the era of climate change. In this paper, the politics of the bioeconomy and carbon sinks are scrutinized in the context of the 2019 parliamentary election season, during which forest use was a central political issue due to investments in new biorefineries. A data set of 80 newspaper articles is analyzed through critical discourse analysis. The analysis identifies three key discursive frames that legitimize the political imaginary of the bioeconomy: 1) rural reinvigoration and the defense of the nation's peripheries through spatial populism; 2) a view of forests as high-throughput carbon conveyors that conform to the temporalities of capital; 3) the establishment of the bioeconomy as a high-value accumulation regime that can resolve the profitability crisis of the paper and pulp production model.

Spatiotemporal Evolution and Influencing Factors of Carbon Sink Dynamics at County Scale: A Case Study of Shaanxi Province, China

To explore the spatiotemporal evolution of carbon sinks in Shaanxi Province, and their impact mechanisms, this study used panel data from 107 counties (districts) in Shaanxi Province from 2000 to 2017. First, we conducted spatial distribution directional analysis and exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA). Then, we constructed a geographic spatial weight matrix and used the spatial panel Durbin model to analyze the driving factors of carbon sink changes in Shaanxi Province, from the perspective of spatial effects. The results showed that: (1) The temporal evolution of carbon sinks during the study period showed an overall upward trend, but the carbon sinks of counties (districts) differed greatly, and the center of gravity of carbon sinks, as a whole, showed the characteristics of “south to north” migration. (2) The carbon sinks of Shaanxi Province have a significant positive global spatial autocorrelation in geographic space. The local spatial pattern was characterized by low-value agglomeration (low-low cluster) and high-value agglomeration (high-high cluster), supplemented by high-value bulge (high-low outlier) and low-value collapse (low-high outlier). (3) The result of the spatial measurement model proved that the spatial Durbin model, with dual fixed effects of time and space, should be selected. In the model results, factors such as population, per capita gross domestic product (GDP), local government general budget expenditure, and local government general budget revenue all reflect strong spatial spillover effects. Accordingly, in the process of promoting “carbon neutrality”, the government needs to comprehensively consider the existence of spatial spillover effects between neighboring counties (districts), and strengthen the linkage-management and control roles of counties (districts) in increasing carbon sinks.

Beyond the dollar: Carbon farming and its alternatives for Tairāwhiti Māori landowners

<p>This research explores landowner preferences for various land use options suitable for Māori land in Te Tairāwhiti, on the East Coast of the North Island of Aotearoa-New Zealand (henceforth Aotearoa). A particular emphasis is placed on the applicability and feasibility of native forest carbon farming within the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) and opportunities, barriers and risks associated with this land use. Alongside this focus, is a wider investigation into the socio-cultural, environmental and economic co-benefits Māori landowners associate with traditional and emerging land uses in Te Tairāwhiti. This study uses a transformative research approach that is rooted in the spirit of kaupapa Māori research. Some 90 percent of Māori land in Te Tairāwhiti has severe limitations which restrict land use options to plantation forestry or pastoral farming for most landowners. A response to these limitations, and a land development option favoured by government agencies, and the academy, is for ‘unproductive’ Māori land to be retired into permanent native forest carbon sinks – a solution frequently proffered as a positive means to address national climate change commitments and local environmental and socioeconomic issues. Whilst these objectives, and the land use preferences of Māori seemingly converge, the wider history of land loss and alienation influences perceptions of fairness and equity for Māori landowners who may feel pressured by the lack of attractive land use options to establish permanent carbon sinks, which can effectively constrain land use options for future generations. Through case study analysis of a Māori sheep and beef farming incorporation participating in the NZ ETS, this study suggests an economic case for carbon farming in Te Tairāwhiti. However, institutional and socio-cultural barriers hinder the participation of Māori landowners in the NZ ETS. The second focus of this thesis has been an investigation into how native forest carbon farming is viewed when compared to other novel and existing land uses suitable for Māori land in the Waiapu catchment (a highly erodible catchment in Te Tairāwhiti). Interviews with key informants were employed to curate a set of land use options for Māori landowners to appraise, using multi-criteria analysis, at two wānanga. Four land use models were created for appraisal by 16 Māori landowner participants. The strength of association between a co-benefit and a land use was collectively deliberated upon in each of these models, and ratings were assigned to reflect this association. These ratings have aided in assessing the wider value of land uses for Māori in the region. The results from this research indicate an overwhelming preference for native forests when compared to other suitable land uses. Native forests are most closely associated with environmental co-benefits (erosion control, water quality, biodiversity and withstanding and limiting climate change) and social and cultural co-benefits (skills development, employment, reconnecting with the land, and self-determination/autonomy). The strong performance of native forestry stands in stark contrast with other land uses under consideration such as exotic forestry (Pinus radiata within the study scenario) and sheep and beef farming which occupy the majority of ‘productive’ land in Te Tairāwhiti. Exotic forestry and sheep and beef farming are associated with few benefits beyond employment and skills development. There is also a clear perception in the quantitative and qualitative data that these uses disconnect Māori landowners from their land and reduce the ability of communities to be self-reliant. Interestingly, other novel land uses under consideration such as perennial horticulture (including blueberries, macadamia nuts and apples), medicinal cannabis and hemp, and hunting and tourism were also valued more than exotic forestry and sheep and beef farming. These results indicate that existing land uses, sometimes implemented without express input from local communities, are now the least preferred land uses. In addition, novel and untested land uses such as medicinal cannabis and hemp, which do not exist at any scale in the region, are preferred over existing uses - even when there is scant evidence of success at any scale. These results push back at the prevailing Pākehā dominated orthodoxy, which has existed from the early days of colonisation and holds that monoculture land uses, for profit above all else, are best suited to the land and the people. It is clear, from this study, that Māori landowners wish to move back to a vibrant multi-faceted land use regime – exemplified by diversity over homogeneity – that characterised the pre-colonisation Māori economy. This research accordingly introduces and explores a value articulating process that increases understanding of the aspirations and values of Māori landowners, and can assist Māori in progressing their land use futures.</p>

Beyond the dollar: Carbon farming and its alternatives for Tairāwhiti Māori landowners

<p>This research explores landowner preferences for various land use options suitable for Māori land in Te Tairāwhiti, on the East Coast of the North Island of Aotearoa-New Zealand (henceforth Aotearoa). A particular emphasis is placed on the applicability and feasibility of native forest carbon farming within the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) and opportunities, barriers and risks associated with this land use. Alongside this focus, is a wider investigation into the socio-cultural, environmental and economic co-benefits Māori landowners associate with traditional and emerging land uses in Te Tairāwhiti. This study uses a transformative research approach that is rooted in the spirit of kaupapa Māori research. Some 90 percent of Māori land in Te Tairāwhiti has severe limitations which restrict land use options to plantation forestry or pastoral farming for most landowners. A response to these limitations, and a land development option favoured by government agencies, and the academy, is for ‘unproductive’ Māori land to be retired into permanent native forest carbon sinks – a solution frequently proffered as a positive means to address national climate change commitments and local environmental and socioeconomic issues. Whilst these objectives, and the land use preferences of Māori seemingly converge, the wider history of land loss and alienation influences perceptions of fairness and equity for Māori landowners who may feel pressured by the lack of attractive land use options to establish permanent carbon sinks, which can effectively constrain land use options for future generations. Through case study analysis of a Māori sheep and beef farming incorporation participating in the NZ ETS, this study suggests an economic case for carbon farming in Te Tairāwhiti. However, institutional and socio-cultural barriers hinder the participation of Māori landowners in the NZ ETS. The second focus of this thesis has been an investigation into how native forest carbon farming is viewed when compared to other novel and existing land uses suitable for Māori land in the Waiapu catchment (a highly erodible catchment in Te Tairāwhiti). Interviews with key informants were employed to curate a set of land use options for Māori landowners to appraise, using multi-criteria analysis, at two wānanga. Four land use models were created for appraisal by 16 Māori landowner participants. The strength of association between a co-benefit and a land use was collectively deliberated upon in each of these models, and ratings were assigned to reflect this association. These ratings have aided in assessing the wider value of land uses for Māori in the region. The results from this research indicate an overwhelming preference for native forests when compared to other suitable land uses. Native forests are most closely associated with environmental co-benefits (erosion control, water quality, biodiversity and withstanding and limiting climate change) and social and cultural co-benefits (skills development, employment, reconnecting with the land, and self-determination/autonomy). The strong performance of native forestry stands in stark contrast with other land uses under consideration such as exotic forestry (Pinus radiata within the study scenario) and sheep and beef farming which occupy the majority of ‘productive’ land in Te Tairāwhiti. Exotic forestry and sheep and beef farming are associated with few benefits beyond employment and skills development. There is also a clear perception in the quantitative and qualitative data that these uses disconnect Māori landowners from their land and reduce the ability of communities to be self-reliant. Interestingly, other novel land uses under consideration such as perennial horticulture (including blueberries, macadamia nuts and apples), medicinal cannabis and hemp, and hunting and tourism were also valued more than exotic forestry and sheep and beef farming. These results indicate that existing land uses, sometimes implemented without express input from local communities, are now the least preferred land uses. In addition, novel and untested land uses such as medicinal cannabis and hemp, which do not exist at any scale in the region, are preferred over existing uses - even when there is scant evidence of success at any scale. These results push back at the prevailing Pākehā dominated orthodoxy, which has existed from the early days of colonisation and holds that monoculture land uses, for profit above all else, are best suited to the land and the people. It is clear, from this study, that Māori landowners wish to move back to a vibrant multi-faceted land use regime – exemplified by diversity over homogeneity – that characterised the pre-colonisation Māori economy. This research accordingly introduces and explores a value articulating process that increases understanding of the aspirations and values of Māori landowners, and can assist Māori in progressing their land use futures.</p>