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Climate change Land Use and Carbon Analysis System (LUCAS) Programme structure Forests Planted forests
Planted forests
Pre-1990 planted forest: young second-
rotation
pine trees in volcanic soils
of the
central North Island, New Zealand
Under the Kyoto protocol, only forests planted after 31 December 1989 into non-forest lands are eligible to be counted as new carbon sinks. Therefore LUCAS has two separate workstreams for planted forests:
More than 1.4 million hectares of forest was established in New Zealand before 1990: about 5 per cent of the country’s land area. By 1 April 2005, the total planted forest area had grown to 1.8 million hectares.
Measuring 'Kyoto' forests
So-called 'Kyoto' forests are those that are planted after 31 December 1989, into areas where the land use was other than forest. It is estimated that about 566,000 hectares of new forest has been established since 1 January 1990 in New Zealand: this is about 2 per cent of the country’s land area.
The Kyoto Protocol gives these forests special significance as carbon sinks. Turning this to our advantage requires a robust forest sampling system that includes: statistical design, data collection, measurement protocols and quality control procedures. Representative and statistically robust estimates of total carbon stocks and changes in carbon stocks can then be calculated on a national scale.
Standardised field methods
For measuring the carbon stock in these forests, LUCAS uses a 4 km x 4 km grid overlaid across New Zealand. This grid coincides with, and is a refinement of, the 8 km x 8 km sampling grid used for natural forests and probably also for forests planted before 1990.
Each grid intersect that lies on Kyoto Forest is assigned a permanent forest monitoring plot for measurement at regular intervals. A sample consists of four circular sub-plots. For each of these, the diameter of all trees is measured, as well as the heights and tree crown dimensions of up to 16 trees. This standardised forest inventory is supplemented by taking samples of coarse wood and fine woody debris, as well as by assessing the health of the trees and composition of understorey plants.
Over the period 2004 and 2005, such standardised field methods were developed and a field manual written. Thanks to a new data capture program, measurements can be directly captured on hand-held computers in the field.
It was originally planned to install and measure 400 plots between 2005 and 2008, and 270 were in fact done during 2007/08. They will be re-measured in 2011-2013, in time for New Zealand to finalise its Kyoto Protocol Commitment Period 1 (CP1) reporting in 2014.
Unfortunately, access problems with forest owners prevented the installation of plots in 2005 and 2006. This is where alternative methods using airborne sensors, such as a scanning laser (LiDAR) and high-resolution aerial photography, have provided valuable data and improved field sampling efficiency.
By mid 2008, a total of 750 plots had been overflown; this included all the 400 plots initially identified. Regressions with data from the measured 270 plots could then be used to fill in the field data gaps.
Annual forest planting in New Zealand from 1920 to 2007.
Before 1990, there was a mix of private and government-owned forest (the latter shown in blue).
All post-1989 forests are privately owned (shown in brown).
Forests planted before 1990
The approach by LUCAS to measure the carbon pools in these pre-1990 forests is being decided, as designing a sampling system for Kyoto forest was given priority.
Total carbon stocks and changes in carbon stocks will be calculated for pre-1990 forests on a national scale, using the 8 km x 8 km grid over New Zealand. Field work for the pre-1990 forests is to take place in 2010.
Last updated: 3 August 2009
