Introduction

This is the website for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals related to ecosystems and ecosystem change..

Greenhouse gases are commonly associated with burning of fossil fuels for the purposes of transportation or heating. However, land usage also plays a part in the greenhouse gas budget. As part of a national inventory of greenhouse gases, CEH calculate emissions and removals related to ecosystems and ecosystem change.

Land use has a unique and important part to play in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases because in this sector they can be removed from the atmosphere. With some land uses however there is the potential for large emissions to the atmosphere. On balance, Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry is currently a net sink for greenhouse gases.

Since March 1994, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Reporting Guidelines on Annual Inventories have required Parties to provide annual national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories covering emissions and removals of direct GHGs from six sectors, and for all years from the base year (currently 1990) to the most recent year.

The six Sectors are 1. Energy, 2. Industrial processes, 3.Solvent & Other Product Use, 4. Agriculture, 5. Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry and 6. Waste.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and, more recently, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) take the lead in preparing the annual inventory of greenhouse gas emissions for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology has been responsible for preparing the Sector 5 tables relating to Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) .

Sector 5: Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry Reports, Inventory data and related publications can be downloaded from this site.

Links - Further Information

• IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme
• UNFCCC - Background Information
• UNFCCC - Latest submission, National Inventory Submission 2009
• Statistics about Climate Change from DECC
• UK Greenhouse Gas Statistics (enter 'greenhouse' as keyword search term)
• IPCC Special Report on Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry

Links - Related Research

• Centre for Ecology & Hydrology - Biogeochemistry Programme
• NERC Open Research Archive

Contact:

For all queries related to this project please contact:
lulucf@ceh.ac.uk