1 Biomass carbon accounts in Europe: present and outlook Biomass carbon accounts 01/10/2015 Daniel Desaulty

Analytical purpose of biomass carbon accounts To provide an overview of the ecosystem’s capacity to produce biomass To measure the use by crops, harvest and wood removals, sterilized by artificial land development, destroyed by erosion and fires; In addition of inland biomass carbon accounts marine carbon accounts have been developed for fish

EEA biomass carbon accounts : An experimental framework SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (EEA) A methodological document Presenting possible data sources and methods Experimentation at EEA Technical report No 13/2011

Methodological options 4 Develop a simplified account –Not all data is available –First step is producing a basic table (stock and flows) –Calculation for only the most important flows –Simplified methodology, for comparability in space and in time at European level. To be consistent with the land account –Use a reference grid –Use information to compute Develop an annual time series –Update in 2016

Simplified diagram and structure of the account Stocks / Flows account Opening stocks Flows / Input (+) whose:  NPP (Net Primary Production)  NEP = NPP – heterotrophic respiration  Carbon imports (seed, manure) Flows / Output (-) whose:  Wood removals  Agriculture crops  Animal products Net Ecosystem Carbon Balance 1 (NECB 1) Changes in Stocks whose:  Net Forest growth  Changes in land cover Net Ecosystem Carbon Balance 2 (NECB 2) Adjustment = NECB 2 – NECB 1 Closing Stocks

State of development of biomass carbon accounts List of calculated variables Organic Carbon Content Stock - Forest Organic Carbon Content Stock - Harvested crops Organic Carbon Content Stock - Soil Organic Carbon Content Stock - Other Natural Vegetation (total) Organic Carbon Content Stock - Other Natural Vegetation (by class) Organic Carbon Content Flow - Forest Growth Organic Carbon Content Flow - Forest Harvest Organic Carbon Content Flow - Harvested Crops Organic Carbon Content Flow - Grazed biomass Organic Carbon Content Flow - Sludge Application Organic Carbon Content Flow: manure application Organic Carbon Content Flow: manure deposition Organic Carbon Content Flow: Gross and Net Primary Production, respiration (under production) Organic Carbon Content Flow: Deadwood Organic Carbon Content Flow: Litter Publication of a document on methodology and first results Description of the entire process (data, input, methods and results)

Next steps Finish the current work, accepting it as imperfect pilot accounts Share the experimentation for consistency with existing data (in particular IPCC) and improvement Prepare the update 2000 – 2012, in particular for 2001 and 2012 data Develop a second table, including in particular the uses of biomass carbon

Towards biomass carbon accounts – some thoughts Are the results sufficiently robust to report the evolution of carbon stocks ? Which indicators can be used at this stage ? Which exogenous indicators can we use to complete the carbon accounts, e.g. in a dashboard perspective ? How to link these first tables to ecosystem functions or services, what do they say on ecosystem condition ?