Lost in translation: Your LULUCF Glossary
Posted on 09. Jun, 2010 by Joshua Wiese in Action alert, bits
As negotiators struggle to close the loopholes in the developed countries forest and land use framework - LULUCF, the Climate Action Network decided in an effort to help. To move things along, they’ve published a handy reference guide containing definitions so delegates understand what they’re working with:
Forest management: Logging.
Sustainable forest management: Mostly logging.
Harvesting: Logging.
Temporarily destocked: Logged (usually logged natural forest).
Age class structure: Age of forest.
Wrong age class structure: Old trees = needs logging.
Conversion: Logging a natural, carbon and biodiversity-rich forest and replacing it with a low carbon, low biodiversity forest with no penalty (see also temporarily destocked, empty forest, displaced local and indigenous people and Australia).
Unique national circumstances: Need to log (often thought just to apply to New Zealand but can apply to any country wanting to log).
Forward looking baseline: A means of hiding logging emissions (see also Canada and others).
Bar with a band to zero: A means of hiding logging emissions (see also Russia).
Incentive: Not penalising logging emissions and/or allowing them to be hidden, as in ‘give us an incentive (logging loophole) and we will take on a more ambitious target’
Voluntary: If you might have a high emission from logging then you can opt not to tell anyone. Notable as being the only term that means roughly the same in English. (See also ‘not electing for forest management’ and Austria.)
Cap: Term used by the G77 and China but not understood by Annex I.
Harvested wood products: The logging industry’s little joke.
We hope that clear’s things up.
