Section 1 report – Understanding the status and dynamics. South African national carbon sinks assessment

This report examines the nature of terrestrial carbon stocks across South Africa and associated mitigation opportunities

Abstract

To better understand the nature of terrestrial carbon stocks across South Africa and associated mitigation opportunities, the Department of Environmental Affairs commissioned the South African National Carbon Sinks Assessment, comprised of 3 sections.

This Section 1 report focuses primarily on the need to understand the nature of carbon stocks and fluxes at a national scale.

A three-step process was used to address the scope of work: Module 1. To first map terrestrial carbon stocks and fluxes across the entire country.

Module 2. To model the potential effect of predicted changes in climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide on terrestrial carbon stocks and sequestration rates.

Module 3. To map historical land-use change within South Africa over the 2000-2010 period and to model predicted changes in land-use over the next 10-15 years - to \"2020\".

The outcomes of these components provide much needed data for national reporting, carbon accounting and land-use planning purposes. They have formed the foundation for the analysis undertaken in Section 2 and 3 of this National Carbon Sink Assessment and provide a crucial source of data for local planning and project development.

This report has been produced by The Cirrus Group for Evidence on Demand with the assistance of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) contracted through the Climate, Environment, Infrastructure and Livelihoods Professional Evidence and Applied Knowledge Services (CEIL PEAKS) programme, jointly managed by DAI (which incorporates HTSPE Limited) and IMC Worldwide Limited.

Citation

Knowles, T.; Sullivan, P.; Scholes, R.; Wessels, K.; Thompson, M. Section 1 report – Understanding the status and dynamics. South African national carbon sinks assessment. Evidence on Demand, UK (2014) iii + 98 pp. [DOI: 10.12774/eod_cr.march2014.knowlestetal]

Section 1 report – Understanding the status and dynamics. South African national carbon sinks assessment

Published 1 January 2014