Options for accounting carbon sequestration in German forests.
BACKGROUND
The Accra climate change talks held from 21-27 August 2008 in Accra, Ghana, were part of an ongoing series of meetings leading up to the Copenhagen meeting in December 2009. During the meeting a set of options for accounting carbon sequestration in forestry on a post-2012 framework was presented. The options include gross-net and net-net accounting and approaches for establishing baselines.


RESULTS
This article demonstrates the embedded consequences of Accra Accounting Options for the case study of German national GHG accounting. It presents the most current assessment of sequestration rates by forest management for the period 1990 - 2007, provides an outlook of future emissions and removals (up to the year 2042) as related to three different management scenarios, and shows that implementation of some Accra options may reverse sources to sinks, or sinks to sources.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of the study highlight the importance of elaborating an accounting system that would prioritize the climate convention goals, not national preferences.
Krug
Joachim
J
Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute (vTI), Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Institute for World Forestry, Leuschnerstr, 91, 21031 Hamburg, Germany. joachim.krug@vti.bund.de.
Koehl
Michael
M
Riedel
Thomas
T
Bormann
Kristin
K
Rueter
Sebastian
S
Elsasser
Peter
P