UK Climate Change Programme 2006 - JNCC - Defra

ANNEX F
Carbon sequestration
183
• The largest carbon pools in the UK are soils
which store about 6 billion tonnes of carbon
Land use in the United Kingdom
• The UK was a net source of emissions from
land use, land use change and forestry
(LULUCF) in 1990
• Projections indicate the UK will become a
small net sink of 0.5 MtC from LULUCF
activities by 2010
Forestland
Grassland
Cropland
Settlements
Other Land
1. Under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, the
UK is committed to protecting and enhancing
sinks. The Kyoto Protocol also gives a limited
allowance for forestry activities to be used to help
meet emission reduction commitments. This
Annex explains how the UK is approaching
international negotiations on the use of sinks
and about the current trends in emissions from
land use change.
2. The latest information on land use in the United
Kingdom comes from a Countryside Survey
conducted in 1998 20 . The use of land was
estimated by classification of surveyed locations
into one of 21 Broad Habitats or dense urban
use. These classes can be combined into five of
those recommended in the IPCC Good practice
Guidance of Land Use, Land-Use Change and
Forestry, namely Forest Land, Cropland,
Grassland, Settlements and Other Land. The land
that would be within the IPCC Wetland type is
included in Grassland or Other Land. Using the
IPCC classes the chart below shows how land in
the United Kingdom is used. The main classes are
grassland (54 per cent) and Cropland (22 per
cent). About 12 per cent of Great Britain is
wooded. Settlements occupy 9 per cent of land,
including gardens and urban parks leaving 4 per
cent of the UK in the IPCC Other Land class for
example rock, open water and beaches.
3. Soil is the largest carbon pool in the UK, which
stores about 6 billion tonnes of carbon 21 . About
3 billion tonnes of this total are stored in peats
and other organic soils which are found mainly
in Scotland and which cover about 30 per cent
of the UK’s total land area. The biomass in
woodlands contain some 90 million tonnes of
carbon, 30 million tonnes of which are stored in
conifers and some 60 million tonnes in broad
leaves and mixed woodland.
Inventory and projections
4. The UK’s annual greenhouse gas inventory
includes categories covering LULUCF, in
accordance with the IPCC’s 2003 Good Practice
Guidance for LULUCF. The methods used to
estimate emissions from these categories have
been reported in the scientific literature 22 and are
kept under review. The methodologies are
described in the UK’s National Inventory Reports
(e.g. Baggott et al 2005).
Ranges in future land use change
MtC
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
-1.5
-2.0
1990 1995 2000
Low Mid High
2005 2010 2015 2020
20Countryside Survey 1990, 1993, Barr et al: Main Report, DOE, London; Northern Ireland Countryside Survey, 1997, Cooper et al, EHS, Belfast.
21The figure included carbon stored in litter, which is dead plant matter lying on top of the soil.
22Cannell et al, National Inventories of Terrestrial Carbon Sources and Sinks: The UK Experience, Climatic Change, vol 42, pp505-530, 1999.