Skip to main content.

LUCAS good practice and system development

To meet international reporting requirements, New Zealand reporting must be consistent with the Good Practice Guidance (GPG) for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) brought out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

For the New Zealand Government to be able to claim, trade, or offset its emissions on the global market using forestry sink credits, the LUCAS measurements and their analyses are subject to international expert review.

Carbon accounting and reporting must be:

  • comparable: estimates of our emissions and removals should be comparable with those of other countries
  • complete: include all above- and below-ground carbon stocks and changes for land use, land-use change and forestry, as well as full geographic coverage of sources and sinks
  • accurate: no bias in the methodology used; neither under- nor over-estimates; and uncertainties need to be quantified and reduced over time
  • transparent: assumptions and methodologies (equations, models) must be clear and available for replication, with methods based on peer-reviewed science
  • consistent: use the same methodology over time.

Refer to the International Review of New Zealand's Carbon Monitoring project (MfE, 1999) for the initial concepts.

Data management, analysis and reporting

An implementation of the Good Practice Guide within the LUCAS team is shown in the diagram below.

The figure gives an overview of the various means of data management, analysis and reporting by LUCAS as in 2009. Not all components are held internally, but the Ministry for the Environment carries overall responsibility.

The figure gives an overview of the various means of data management, analysis and reporting by LUCAS as in 2009.
Not all components are held internally, but the Ministry for the Environment carries overall responsibility.


Last updated: 3 August 2009