Community guidelines for accessing forestry voluntary carbon ... - FAO

Chapter 5: Project implementation: field work
All issues related to carbon management will be reflected in the PD or
PDD. However, these documents may not include all activities related
to forest management. These should be clearly described within a
management plan. The management plan must define and standardize
how each activity should be implemented, and set out a number of
steps, if appropriate. These steps should be followed and recorded by
all those involved in field activities.
Developing standard operating procedures (SOPs) is common practice,
particularly when the project is large-scale or when forest management
activities will be implemented by many different land owners and
forest managers. SOPs help to ensure that fieldwork is implemented
consistently and should include, at least, the following:
• Guidelines for all field-level operations;
• Procedures for reliable measurements;
• Basic information analysis and recording procedures; and
• Quality assurance and quality control for carbon stock
measurement and reporting.
The SOPs should ensure that all activities are conducted in the same
manner regardless of the time, location or implementing team. SOPs
need to be up-to-date and cost-effective in order to achieve efficiency
and accuracy in the field.
5.2 Defining the project area
It is essential to define and record key physical aspects of the project
area in order to accurately measure changes in carbon stock and to
monitor forest management activities. These aspects include:
1. The size and shape of the project area; determined by
boundary demarcation and mapping .
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