October 2001

This issue:


HOW TO MEASURE FOREST CARBON? Only a small number of places are left in the CRC's November short course 'HOW TO MEASURE FOREST CARBON'. This course, as previously advertised, is a
new 3-day course to be presented in Canberra by senior members of the CRC on 14-16 November 2001. Involves a practical visit to a field site in NSW as well as computer work. Course Coord: Dr Janette Lindesay via office@greenhouse.crc.org.au. More at http://www.greenhouse.crc.org.au/crc/education/education.htm

 

NEWS

THE CRC WELCOMES ANOTHER EXPERT TO THE TEAM
The CRC for Greenhouse Accounting is very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Chris Mitchell as Deputy Chief Executive, CRC and General Manager, Science and Operations. He joins our national team from CSIRO Atmospheric Research in Victoria and will now be based at Canberra in the CRC head office on the campus of the Australian National University. Dr Mitchell commences in his full time position on Monday, October 15 and may be reached via the email address <<chris.mitchell@greenhouse.crc.org.au>> or via Tel: 02 6125 4020. Dr Mitchell brings significant expertise to the CRC. Over the years as a senior Australian scientist, some of his activities for CSIRO have included:

  • Regular briefings to the Australian Government on climate change science and presentation to the PM's Sci, Eng & Innovation Council
  • Member of two delegations, led by Australia's Ambassador for the Environment, to pacific island countries over climate issues
  • Member of Australian delegation to CoP4 Buenos Aires (Nov 1998)
  • Member Technical Advisory Group, for Australia's single largest Climate Change aid project funded by AusAID Pacific Sea-level and Climate Monitoring Project (Jan 1999 - current)
  • Seconded to the Australian Greenhouse Office to develop and contribute to Australia's Greenhouse Science Strategic Plan (The Australian Greenhouse Science Initiative: Strategy and Business Plan 2000 to 2005 - Greenhouse Science Advisory Committee) (Oct 1998)
  • Led the team that developed the Australian National Greenhouse Gas Inventory methodology for Non-CO2 gases from the biosphere (Workbook 5.0, 1994).

CARBON TRADING
The recent tragic events in New York also had unforseen implications for the development of carbon trading. Cantor Fitzgerald, one of the firms that suffered the most serious losses as a result of the World Trade Centre disaster, was also one of the most progressive finance companies on the economic and environmental potential of carbon trading. Cantor Fitzgerald joined with PricewaterhouseCoopers to create CO2e.com, a web-based service for companies interested in trading emission reductions. CO2e.com's CEO, and the founder of the Cantor Fitzgerald Environmental Brokerage Services, was Carlton Bartels, well known within climate change circles. Bartels, as well as two of his colleagues at CO2e.com, Adam White and John Willett, are among those who worked on the 101st floor of WTC One and are now presumed lost. (More: Leonie Haimson at http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/heatbeat/thisjustin100101.asp

IPCC UPDATE: (see also this week's IPCC press release below)
7th CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE UN FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE: COP-7 scheduled to take place from 29 October - 9 November 2001, in Marrakech, Morocco. For more information, contact: the UNFCCC Secretariat; tel: +49-228-815-1000; fax: +49-228-815-1999; e-mail: secretariat@unfccc.int; http://www.unfccc.int/

SUMMARY OF THE 18th SESSION OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC):24-29 SEPTEMBER 2001 (More: http://www.unfccc.int/). The eighteenth session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC-18) was held from 24-29 September 2001, in London, UK. Approximately 280 delegates, experts and representatives of international and non-governmental organizations attended the session. The session focused on approving/adopting the Synthesis Report of the IPCC's Third Assessment Report (TAR). The Synthesis Report, which consists of a summary for policy-makers (SPM) and an underlying longer part, integrates the information contained within the TAR and draws on all previously approved and accepted IPCC reports to address nine policy-relevant questions
identified by the IPCC, based on submissions by governments. It is the first such report prepared by the IPCC.

The finalisation of the Synthesis Report completed nearly five years of work on the TAR. The issue of how governments will respond to the Synthesis Report and make use of its answers to policy-relevant questions remains to be seen. Their first opportunity to respond will be COP-7, where an in-depth debate on the TAR is scheduled to take place. The next session of the IPCC will take place in April 2002, at a venue to be determined.


ON THE WEB

The Commonwealth Government has a new Science & Industry web portal at http://www.science.gov.au


"Key Source Category Analysis for the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Emissions and Sinks: 1990-1999 Final Draft" (2000; 118k pdf) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Atmospheric Programs, September 2001, at http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/publications/emissions/Key-Source_90-99.pdf


The OECD IEA/ETSAP (Energy Technology Systems Analysis Programme) Web site was recently updated. ETSAP is a research partnership dedicated to enabling its partners and their clients to develop integrated energy and environmental policy. The current 1999-2001 Annex VII is termed 'Contributing to the Kyoto Protocol' Try http://www.ecn.nl/unit_bs/etsap/


B-SPAN, the World Bank's webcasting station on development issues.
http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/B-SPAN.
B-SPAN offers anyone with access to the Internet an opportunity to see policy seminars and presentations that are held regularly at the World Bank. These presentations, by leading experts from around the world, are held on a variety of sustainable development and poverty reduction issues. Though interested individuals and Bank staff are often not able to attend these live events, these presentations are still available for later viewing as they become part of B-SPAN's permanent archive. A new website has been started to archive the video materials for future viewing. Over time, the B-SPAN website will become a virtual library of information on development and poverty issues. Climate Change: A Challenge for the 21st Century http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/B-SPAN/sub_EM5.htm


The Overstory - Forests and Water <http://www.agroforester.com/overstory/overstory80.html>
Tree Basics <http://www.agroforester.com/overstory/overstory69.html>
Integrated Systems Approach <http://www.agroforester.com/overstory/overstory44.html>
Designing Resource Systems <http://www.agroforester.com/overstory/overstory18.html>
Agroforestry Systems <http://www.agroforester.com/overstory/overstory7.html>
Biological Nitrogen Fixation <http://www.agroforester.com/overstory/overstory65.html>
Silvopasture <http://www.agroforester.com/overstory/overstory36.html>
Nitrogen-Fixing Trees <http://www.agroforester.com/overstory/overstory4.html>


FACT Net's fact sheets on multipurpose species can be viewed at: < http://www.winrock.org/forestry/factpub/factsh.htm>
The US Department of Agriculture National Agroforestry Centre's publications include silvopasture <http://www.unl.edu/nac/afnotes/>


POSITIONS VACANT


Closing Date 26 October 2001
*Postdoctoral Fellows (Level A) / Research Fellows (Level B) Fixed Term (Ref: RSBS 572)


CRC for GREENHOUSE ACCOUNTING at THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
The CRC has two new positions available in a new research program aimed at developing regional, continental and global scale models of the carbon and related biogeochemical cycles. Both positions are available for 2 years initially with the possibility of a one year extension. Successful applicants will be expected to collaborate with members of the CRC for Greenhouse Accounting in projects leading to a better understanding of the carbon budget of Australia.

Contact: Dr Michael Roderick - michael.roderick@greenhouse.crc.org.au ( http://www.greenhouse.crc.org.au/crc/ecarbon/news.htm)
Ph: 02 6125 4020, Fx: 02 6125 5095
Selection Documents: John Nugent, RSBS, ANU - john.nugent@rsbs.anu.edu.au
Ph: 02 6125 4138, Fx: 02 6125 4891. [See also the ANU's website at: http://www.anu.edu.au/hr/jobs]


PUBLICATIONS OF INTERESTS

"Renting Carbon Offsets: the Question of Permanence" by Roger A. Sedjo, Gregg Marland, Kristy Fruit, August 20, 2001
http://www.weathervane.rff.org/features/feature136.htm. How to address the problem that carbon sequestered in the terrestrial biosphere may lack permanence has been hotly debated. In this paper, the authors argue: "Just as a space can be rented to provide for the temporary parking of a car, space could be rented for parking carbon." The paper describes a system whereby carbon emission credits would be rented, rather than sold, when carbon is sequestered but permanence of sequestration is either not certain or not desired. A rental contract can allow the 'buyer/renter' to enjoy the limited term benefits of the asset while the 'seller/host' retains long-term discretion. The authors argue that "the effect of renting carbon on an individual project basis should increase total global carbon sequestration. ... In a world where there are incentives (payments) for carbon sequestration services we would expect more sequestration to be provided at any future time than if no payments were being made".


The Project on Environmental Change and Foreign Policy announces its third book, International Equity and Global Environmental Politics: Power and Principles in U.S. Foreign Policy by Paul Harris. Other books from the Project include Climate Change and American Foreign Policy (St. Martin's Press, 2000), The Environment, International Relations, and U.S. Foreign Policy (Georgetown University Press, 2001), and three forthcoming books on environmental change, international relations, and foreign policy in East Asia.


New Climate Data from the Tyndall Centre, UK: A set of data detailing country-by-country summaries of the mean climate over the period 1961-1990 is now available online from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. The data, available at www.tyndall.ac.uk/data/countries/countries.htm is aggregated by political region so is aimed particularly at those researchers working on climate change impacts and responses. While these data represent climate averages, twentieth century climate trends were addressed on a country-by-country basis in the Tyndall Centre Working Paper (www.tyndall.ac.uk/publications/working_papers/wp1_summary.shtml).


From the Scandinavian climate change magazine "Cicerone", a new edition is now available at http://www.cicero.uio.no/index_e.asp Somare articles include:

  • Myhre, Myhre & Stordal: Can human activity have led to global cooling? - Human activity may be behind the decrease in global temperatures from 1945 to 1975, a period during which a significant increase in small particles were released into the atmosphere.
  • Nordli: Farm diaries provide record of temperatures in eastern Norway 1749?2000 - Diaries kept by Norwegian farmers make it possible to reconstruct historical temperatures even before thermometers came into general use.
  • Aaheim et al. 2001. The trade-off between short- and long-lived greenhouse gases under uncertainty and learning. Working Paper 2001:10. CICERO, Oslo , Norway. 18pp.
    http://www.cicero.uio.no/publications/detail.asp?publication_id=1435&lang=en&navigation=no


The most recent issue of the International Journal of Global Environmental Issues 1(2) is devoted to the "Interactions Between Climate Change and Sustainable Development." Additional information about the journal itself may be found at: www.inderscience.com.


"Comprehensive emissions per capita for industrialised countries" by Hal Turton and Clive Hamilton of The Australia Institute. September 2001. The publication asserts that the five highest per capita emitters are: Australia (27.6 tonnes CO2-e), Luxembourg (24.2), Canada (21.9), the USA (21.1) and Ireland (15.4). The average for the European Union is 10.3 tonnes, a figure heavily influenced by its largest members, Germany (11.9), UK (11.4), France (8.2) and Italy (9.0). More information may be found on the Internet at www.tai.org

World Summit on Sustainable Development - IIED and the RING ( http://www.iied.org/wssd/pubs.html) produced a series of short briefing papers on key issues to be addressed at the Summit in Johannesburg in 2002. They outline current realities and present challenges to governments and others to act.
Inter alia, the following topics are addressed:

*The web portal to the World Summit on Sustainable Development is at http://www.iisd.ca/wssd/portal.html*

 


SEMINARS/CONFERENCES


Check out new events (AND submit your own) to the CRC for Greenhouse Accounting's new GLOBAL CHANGE EVENTS CALENDAR at http://www.greenhouse.crc.org.au/gcec. As it explains, any large or small, domestic or international seminar, conference or short course may be submitted, as long as it relates to environmental, social or economic issues relating to global change. The public database is currently being populated with data and users can easily search for upcoming events by date (up until 2007) or by (partial) keyword.

(Sydney - November 21 - details to be confirmed)
The Role of Sinks overseas and in Australia: A free, public, post-COP7 seminar from the CEO and senior members of the CRC to be held at a convenient venue. More details in the next GA News Update.

(Melbourne - October)
Friday, 19 October, 3:30pm, CAR Lecture Theatre RSVP: Wenju.Cai@csiro.au
Atmospheric composition changes of the past century from air in polar firn by David Etheridge, CSIRO Atmospheric Research Air in the channels of firn - the porous layer of metamorphosed snow atop ice sheets - is being exploited for its information on past atmospheric composition. Air with mean age back to 100 years or more can be obtained. Firn air offers large sample volumes enabling analyses of ultra-trace
constituents. Examples to be presented include several key halogenated gases, carbon monoxide, and the evolution of the methane budget as found from modelling of the measured methane isotopic ratios.


(Edinburgh - November)
"Successful strategies for biomass-based GHG emissions reduction and mitigation: translating research into policy and implementation" Date: 12-13 November 2001 (followed by Task-internal meeting on 14-16 November) Organized by: IEA Bioenergy Task 38 (Greenhouse Gas Balances of Biomass and Bioenergy Systems) For further details: http://www.joanneum.ac.at/iea-bioenergy-task38/announcement.doc or go to http://www.joanneum.ac.at/iea-bioenergy-task38 and click on the link to "Workshop Announcement: Edinburgh, UK"

PRESS RELEASES OF INTEREST

UNFCCC Press Release: (9 Oct 2001): The world's governments are meeting in Marrakech from 29 October to 9 November to finalise the procedures and institutions needed to make the Kyoto Protocol fully operational. "The work of translating the Bonn Agreements into a detailed operational rule book must be completed here in Marrakech," said Michael Zammit Cutajar, Executive Secretary of the Convention. Full text available under the following URL: http://unfccc.int/press/prel2001/pressrel091001.pdf


A Virtual Herbarium (October - ABC Radio National)
Australia's major herbariums are clubbing together and creating a "Virtual Herbarium" for land owners and local governments to access online in order to piece together what their land looked like before white settlers arrived in Australia. Visit at: http://www.anbg.gov.au


FEDGOV - FEDERAL BOOST FOR SPATIAL INFORMATION INDUSTRY (Sept 2001 01/422)
The Minister for Industry, Science and Resources, Senator Nick Minchin, today announced a package of initiatives designed to promote the development of Australia's spatial information industry. Senator Minchin said that ready and timely access to spatial information, that is, 'where' people and objects are, covering disciplines such as mapping, surveying, geographic information systems, and related software development, is essential to Australia's continued development in the information age. "It is a critical tool in informed decision making on key economic, environmental and social issues," Senator Minchin said. Senator Minchin said that the package will help position the Australian spatial information industry to capture a greater share of a large and rapidly growing global market - currently estimated at around $34 billion annually - with a growth rate of 20% a year.

The package comprises four initiatives:

  • The Spatial Information Industry Action Agenda, Positioning for Growth, which sets out a vision for the spatial information industry and identifies strategies to remove impediments to industry growth and participation in the global information economy;
  • The formation of a single organisation to represent business interests in the Spatial Information Industry- the Australian Spatial Information Business Association;
  • Provision of free access to on-line government-held fundamental spatial data, in line with the recommendations of the Commonwealth Interdepartmental Committee on Spatial Data Access and Pricing, and consistent with the broader recommendations of the Action Agenda;
  • Merger of AGSO-Geoscience Australia and AUSLIG to streamline the acquisition and delivery of spatial data held by these agencies. This will include development and implementation of on-line services and product distribution.

"The Action Agenda is a joint effort of all key stakeholders - businesses, educational and research institutions and the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments - but I would especially like to commend the high degree of commitment shown by the industry to achieving a strong, sustainable and internationally competitive spatial information sector in Australia," Senator Minchin said. "The Action Agenda has already generated improved communication, goodwill and a pro-active attitude to change in the industry. It will be important for all sectors of the industry to maintain this momentum through the
implementation phase of the Action Agenda to ensure that it's vision for the future is realised. "The Commonwealth will be working through the Australia New Zealand Land Information Council and Commonwealth-State Ministerial Councils to encourage all States and Territories to adopt
similar spatial data pricing and access policies," he said.

Contact: Dr Neil Williams, CEO AGSO - Geoscience Australia, Ph: 02 6249 9600 or Peter Holland, General Manager AUSLIG, Ph: 02 6201 4262.

 

 

(c) 2002 CRC for Greenhouse Accounting

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2002 - The International Year of EcoTourism