MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FOREST
NATIONAL REDD+ SECRETARIAT
Tigray Regional State REDD+ Coordination Unit
Zonal Level REDD+ Awareness Creation
Workshop
Tigray Regional State, MEKELLE
Sep 3 and 4 /2015
Contact us @
[email protected]
Climate change & the Role of Forests
to Climate Change
What are the signs that climate change is occurring?
What causes climate change?
What is the role of forests in climate change?
REDD+
Brief history of REDD+
[email protected]
What is Climate
Change?
What are the signs
of Climate
Change?
[email protected]
What is Climate Change?
• Climate Change = significant change in measures of climate
(such as temperature or precipitation) lasting for an extended
period of time (typically decades)
• United Nations Forum Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) defines Climate Change as ‘a change of
climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human
activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere’
[email protected]
Climate Change is happening
Four major independent datasets show:
2013 was among the warmest years on record (2nd to 6th)
Sea level is rising:
from ocean expansion and melting glaciers
Since 1993
Global sea level
has risen 37 mm
(1.46 inches)
• 60% from
expansion as ocean
temperatures rise,
• 40% from melting
glaciers
Steve Nerem
Climate Change is happening
Global and national temperature anomaly
Global
Series1
National
Series2
year
1.5
0.5
0
-0.5
-1
-1.5
-2
temprature anomaly
1
1999
1989
1979
1969
1959
1949
1939
1929
1919
1909
1899
1889
1879
1869
1859
Climate Change is happening
Greenhouse gases continued to climb:
Atmospheric CO2 concentration hit a global
average of 395.3 ppm for the year 2013
Climate
Change
happening
Changes in
precipitationispatterns
Less rain
http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/precipitation_changes_trends_over_land_from_1900_to_2000
[email protected]
More rain
Rising sea levels
+ 3.1 mm per year
•
Sea levels are rising due
to thermal expansion and
melting glaciers and ice
caps
•
Average global sea levels
have risen 17 cm during
20th century and may rise
28-58 cm by 2100
http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/trends-in-sea-level-1870-2006
Global mean sea level rise from 1870 - 2006
[email protected]
C
Global Sea Surface Temperature:
base 1901-70
More extreme weather events
Severe droughts
and heat waves
Stronger
storms
Heavy rains
[email protected]
Examples of potential impacts
 Forest fire
incidence 2008
There are reports that fire has affected more than 200,000 ha every year in recent
decades.
Decreasing snow cover and melting glaciers
Kilimanjaro 1993
Decreasing snow cover
Kilimanjaro 2000
http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?id=1361
[email protected]
Warming of poles and loss of sea ice
Collapse of Wilkins Ice Shelf, Antarctica
[email protected]
Evidence for reality of climate change
Glaciers melting
1909
Toboggan
Glacier
Alaska
1858
1974
Grindelwald Glacier
Switzerland
2000
1900
2003
Alpine glacier, Austria
Evidence for reality of climate change
• Tree line shift both altitudinaly and
latitudinally.
• Traditional change of local communities in
their cropping pattern and livestock rearing.
What causes climate
change and where are
greenhouse gas emissions
occurring?
[email protected]
What human activities generate GHGs?
Greenhouse Gas
Industrial Sources
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
fossil fuel combustion
and cement
manufacturing
Deforestation and
burning of forests
Methane (CH4)
Landfills, coal mining,
natural gas production
Conversion of wetlands
Rice paddies
Livestock production
Nitrous oxide (N2O)
Fossil fuel combustion
Nitric acid production
Fertilizer use
Burning of biomass
Hydrofluorocarbons
(HFCs)
Industrial processes
Manufacturing
---
Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) Industrial processes
Manufacturing
---
Sulphur hexafluoride
(SF6)
----
Electrical transmission
and distribution systems
Land Use Sources
Which sectors produce greenhouse gases?
[email protected]
Which Sectors Produce Greenhouse Gasses
in Ethiopia?
[email protected]
Where are greenhouse gases being emitted?
Low
emissions
High
emissions
[email protected]
Sources of emissions
The sources of emissions differ across developing versus
developed countries
Greatest source of GHG = fossil fuels
Land use change (deforestation) is a major source
(second only to fossil fuels)
[email protected]
Forests in the global
carbon cycle
[email protected]
Forests Store and Emit Carbon
Deforestation & degradation
of forests emit 5.87 gigatons of
carbon dioxide equivalent
Forests & other terrestrial
systems - absorb 9.53 gigatons
of carbon dioxide equivalent
[email protected]
Extent of forests globally
30% of earth’s land surface is
forest (4 billion hectares)
Forest area by biome
Area forest cover
Tropical
Temperate
Boreal
[email protected]
16~17 M
km2
9~10 M
km2
15~16 M
km2
Forest carbon globally
45% of terrestrial carbon is stored
in earth’s forests
Carbon stock by biome
% terrestrial C
Tropical
~25%
Temperate
~10%
Boreal
~5%
• Forests absorb 2.6 gigatons
C (9.5 gT CO2) per year
• Emissions from tropical
deforestation 1.5 gigatons
C per year
[email protected]
Climate change
mitigation
through forestry
[email protected]
Options for mitigating climate change
Increasing
carbon sinks
Avoiding
reducing
sinks
Ecosystem
service:
carbon
sequestration
Mitigation
Activities
Reducing emissions
from productive
activities
Bioenergy and
biofuels
[email protected]
Ecosystem
service:
emissions
reduction