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Section 4. Carbon Stock Measurement
Methods
4.7. Carbon Emission From Selective Logging
USAID LEAF
Regional Climate Change Curriculum Development
Module: Carbon Measurement and Monitoring (CMM)
Name
Affiliation
Name
Affiliation
Deborah Lawrence, Co-lead
University of Virginia
Megan McGroddy, Co-lead
University of Virginia
Bui The Doi, Co-lead
Vietnam Forestry University
Ahmad Ainuddin Nuruddin
Universiti Putra Malaysia
Prasit Wang, Co-lead
Chiang Mai University,
Thailand
Mohd Nizam Said
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Sapit Diloksumpun
Kasetsart University, Thailand
Pimonrat Tiansawat
Chiang Mai University, Thailand
Pasuta Sunthornhao
Kasetsart University, Thailand
Panitnard Tunjai
Chiang Mai University, Thailand
Wathinee Suanpaga
Kasetsart University, Thailand
Lawong Balun
University of Papua New Guinea
Jessada Phattralerphong
Kasetsart University, Thailand
Mex Memisang Peki
PNG University of Technology
Pham Minh Toai
Vietnam Forestry University
Kim Soben
Royal University of Agriculture, Cambodia
Nguyen The Dzung
Vietnam Forestry University
Pheng Sokline
Royal University of Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Nguyen Hai Hoa
Vietnam Forestry University
Seak Sophat
Royal University of Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Le Xuan Truong
Vietnam Forestry University
Choeun Kimseng
Royal University of Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Phan Thi Quynh Nga
Vinh University, Vietnam
Rajendra Shrestha
Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
Erin Swails
Winrock International
Ismail Parlan
FRIM Malaysia
Sarah Walker
Winrock International
Nur Hajar Zamah Shari
FRIM Malaysia
Sandra Brown
Winrock International
Samsudin Musa
FRIM Malaysia
Karen Vandecar
US Forest Service
Ly Thi Minh Hai
USAID LEAF Vietnam
Geoffrey Blate
US Forest Service
David Ganz
USAID LEAF Bangkok
Chi Pham
USAID LEAF Bangkok
I
II
III
OVERVIEW: CLIMATE CHANGE AND FOREST CARBON
1.1
Overview: Tropical Forests and Climate Change
1.2
Tropical forests, the global carbon cycle and climate change
1.3
Role of forest carbon and forests in global climate negotiations
1.4
Theoretical and practical challenges for forest-based climate mitigation
FOREST CARBON STOCKS AND CHANGE
2.1
Overview of forest carbon pools (stocks)
2.2
Land use, land use change, and forestry (LULUCF) and CO2 emissions and sequestration
2.3
Overview of Forest Carbon Measurement and Monitoring
2.4
IPCC approach for carbon measurement and monitoring
2.5
Reference levels – Monitoring against a baseline (forest area, forest emissions)
2.6
Establishing Lam Dong’s Reference Level for Provincial REDD+ Action Plan : A Case Study
CARBON MEASUREMENT AND MONITORING DESIGN
3.1
IV
V
Considerations in developing a monitoring system
CARBON STOCK MEASUREMENT METHODS
4.1
Forest Carbon Measurement and Monitoring
4.2
Design of field sampling framework for carbon stock inventory
4.3
Plot Design for Carbon Stock Inventory
4.4
Forest Carbon Field Measurement Methods
4.5
Carbon Stock Calculations and Available Tools
4.6
Creating Activity Data and Emission Factors
4.7
Carbon Emission from Selective Logging
4.8
Monitoring non-CO2 GHGs
NATIONAL SCALE MONITORING SYSTEMS

Pre-class Reading: 2 or 3 related studies

Lecture: 45 minutes (including Q&A)

Fieldwork: 1 day (working only)

Data analysis in computer lab: 120 minutes
At the end of this session, learners will be able to:

Explain how the selective logging activities affect
forest carbon and carbon emissions.

Estimate amount of carbon emissions from selective
logging through field measurement and remote
sensing techniques
1.
Impact of selective logging
activities on forest biomass,
carbon pools.
2.
Estimation of selective logging
emissions.
3.
Application of field
measurements with remote
sensing techniques for selective
logging analysis.

Selective logging (SL) or selective harvesting is the
method of cutting in which only a certain selected
species or size of trees are cut down
SL in Plantation
SL in natural forest
Clear cutting field
How does selective logging emit carbon to the atmosphere?

Selective logging is
diffuse across the
forest area – only a
few trees are felled
 Difficult to capture
C stock changes
with biomass
assessments

Can cause
significant
emissions because
it covers large areas
Source
needed for
this image

Forest vegetation is cleared to
create skid trail, logging road
and logging decks to extract
logs.
 Carbon stored in cleared forest
vegetation is assumed to be
emitted to the atmosphere as CO2
through decomposition

Felling trees and extracting
logs causes damage to
surrounding forest vegetation
Source
needed for
this image
Increased damage and mortality
rate both increase CO2
emissions
Damaged tree

When selected trees are cut, only
merchantable part of tree
extracted from forest (bole)

Non merchantable part of tree
left in forest (crown, stump, etc.)

Increases dead wood pool
Extracted timber from selective logging:


Processing logs results in waste (e.g. sawdust)

↑CO2 from decomposition of waste

The more inefficient the mill machinery the more emissions
Timber is converted into wood products that have different rates of
retirement and are disposed of over time resulting in ↑CO2
emissions

Some wood products are short lived and assumed to decompose
quickly (e.g. paper, cardboard)

Some wood products are long lived (e.g. construction timber and
furniture) and are either burned or disposed of in landfills.
 Emissions due to selective logging are estimated as:
EF (t C/m3) = ELE + LDF + LIF
Where:
ELE = extracted log emissions (t C/m3 extracted)
LDF = logging damage factor—dead biomass carbon left behind in gap
from felled tree and incidental damage (t C/m3 extracted)
LIF = logging infrastructure factor—dead biomass carbon caused by
construction of infrastructure (t C/m3)
 Field data are collected to quantify each of these factors—the steps
to collect data are given next
 Multiple logging gaps must be sampled –experience has shown this
to be on order of 100 or more to produce precise estimates

Reliable national statistics

Legal Logging

Illegal logging

Extract more than allowable cut

Field measurement method

Independent method: Aerial imagery using a sampling
approach—produces estimates of area of gaps (timber
extracted)
16
1
2
3
2
2
4
Strips of aerial imagery
showing logging
17
Approach based on Winrock SOPs for estimating emissions
from selective logging
1.
2.
Conduct field measurements to estimate:

Carbon stock damage in logging gaps due to tree felling

Carbon stock damage related to to skid trails, roads, logging
decks created

Growth induced as a result of canopy opening
Create relationship between volume of timber removed and
reduction in live tree biomass from logging activities


Take measurements in logging gaps to relate total carbon
emissions to easily measurable parameters

Area of logging gap (m2)

Volume of timber extracted (m3)
Components of carbon impact:

Log volume  convert to biomass using wood density

Incidental damage relate to m3 volume extracted

Infrastructure damage  relate to m3 volume extracted

Timber log:

Some of this carbon (<10%) ends up as long-lived (>100 yr) wood
products

Assume remaining carbon (>90%) is emitted immediately to
atmosphere (committed emission - simplifies accounting)

Rest of timber tree (crown, stump, pieces left behind) and assume
is emitted immediately to atmosphere (committed emission simplifies accounting)

Other trees damaged by felling is emitted immediately to
atmosphere (committed emission - simplifies accounting)

Trees cleared for construction of roads, skid trails and decks

All left in the forest to decompose - assume all C emitted immediately
(committed emission - simplifies accounting)
What shape best
approximates a tree
trunk?
Conical Frustum
(cone with top sliced off)
2
2

 Dstump   Dt   Dstump Dt 
1
  

V     Llog  

  
3
 200   200   200 200 
WHY ÷ by
200?

Density =
Biomass
Volume
Therefore: Biomass = Density x Volume

Once log volume is estimated, easy to convert to biomass

Average Wood Density, e.g. of SE Asian forests = 0.57 t m-3
(Brown 1997)

If the timber species is known, use species-specific wood
density
DBH
If log is cut above DBH, then
DBH is easy to measure in
the field.
But if the log was cut below
DBH, how can we estimate
it?
Dtop
Length
Tree trunks get narrower
with height – how can we
calculate how much
narrower?
Tree taper = Change in diameter (∆D)
Change in length (∆L)
Tree taper = Dbottom – Dtop
Length
Dbottom
From field measurements, we can calculate a taper factor that
tells us how much diameter decreases per centimeter of a tree’s
length
DBH
130 cm
(1.3 m)
∆L
Hstump
∆L (cm) = 130 - Hstump
TAPER (∆D/∆L)
DBH  D stump
x CHANGE IN LENGTH (∆L)
FROM STUMP TO DBH
 D stump  Dtop


 130  H stump 
 Llog  100

DBH is estimated as the stump diameter modified by a
reduction factor. The reduction factor is based on the tree’s
taper and the distance between the measured stump height
and DBH (130 cm).
Field Measurements:
Dstump
Dtop
Length
Hstump
= 70.8 cm
= 49.7 cm
= 19.9 m
= 80 cm
Tree taper = 70.8 – 49.7 = 1.06 cm/m
19.9
Change in length = 130 – 80 = 50 cm
 70.8  49.7

DBH  70.8  
 (130  80)  70.27
 19.9 100

We can estimate the volume
of the log extracted and
convert volume to biomass…
DBH
And we can estimate the
total biomass of the tree
based on its DBH….
Therefore:
Biomass Remaining in Forest (crown, stump, pieces left behind ) =
Total Biomass – Timber Volume Extracted

Biomass of timber tree left in the forest will be emitted
as CO2 as it decomposes through time – this is part of
incidental damage

Other trees damaged as a result of felling operations will
also decompose and emit CO2

Biomass of damaged trees estimated using available
equations

Estimate total incidental damage as t C per m3 extracted
Where:

DW: Dead wood carbon stock (t C/m3)

f(dbh): allometric equation to estimate biomass from DBH and
wood density (WD) – t C in biomass.

GAPVol: volume of timber extracted in gap G(m3/gap)

CF: Carbon fraction (0.47); WD: wood density

BI: Biomass of incidentally killed/damaged trees (t C/gap)

Number of gaps: Total number of gaps inventoried
31
Roads, Skid Trails, and Decks
 Length
 Width
Infrastructure Emission Factor
(Skid Trails+Decks+Roads)

Need estimates of average forest carbon stocks per
stratum

Calculate area of roads, logging decks, skid trails

Multiply area by average forest carbon stocks to estimate
carbon impact of logging infrastructure

Estimate total logging infrastructure impact (t C) per m3
extracted
Where:

LIF: Logging Infrastructure Factor (dead wood carbon caused by
construction of infrastructure, t C/m3)

RF: Road factor (emission per km of road construction, t C/km)

RL: road length (km)

DF: Deck factor (emission per deck constructed, t C/Deck)

#D: number of decks

SF: the skid trail factor (emission per km of skid trail, t C/km)

SL: Skid length (km)

TotSampleVol: Total extracted volume across the area sampled for
infrastructure (m3)
Estimating Total Emissions
C emissions, t C/yr = [vol x ELE x (1-LTP)]+[vol x LDF]+[vol x LIF]
Where:
Vol = volume timber extracted over bark per logging block (m3)
ELE = extracted log emissions (t C/m3)
LTP = proportion of extracted wood in long term products still in use
after 100 yr (dimensionless)
LDF = logging damage factor (t C/m3)—dead wood left behind in gap
LIF = logging infrastructure factor (t C/m3)—dead wood produced by
construction
Concession TBD Inc. constructs 15 km of skid trails and roads to
harvest 10 m3/ha on 500 ha in 2013. No decks are built as logs
are piled alongside wide roads. 5% of the harvested wood went
into long term wood product storage.
C emissions, t C/yr = [vol x ELE x (1-LTP)]+[vol x LDF]+[vol x LIF]
C = [(500*10) x 0.36 x (1-0.05)] + [(500*10) x 1.05] + [(500*10) x 1.49]
C = 1,710 + 5,250 + 7,450
C = 14,410 tC ~ 52,837 tCO2
Assumed factors:
ELE= 0.36 t C/m3
LTP= 0.05 t C/m3
LDF= 1.05 t C/m3
LIF= 1.49 t C/m3

Selective logging is a major driver of forest degradation
in many tropical countries.

Carbon emissions from logging come from 3 major pools:
1) wood products extracted; 2) vegetation cleared for
infrastructure and 3) incidental damage during logging
operations

Students now understand how to calculate emissions
from those three pools
1. Prior to field measurement

Collect available data, maps and research results

Identify sampling design

Determine the logging management practices for the
construction

Determine what type of equipment to be used

Form measurement groups, measurement rules
2. Field measurement (1 day)
3. Data analysis in lab (120 minutes)




Walker, S.M., Pearson, TRH, Casarim, N, Harris, N, Petrova,S, Grais,
A, Swails, E, Netzer, M, Goslee, KM and Brown, S. 2012. Standard
Operating Procedures for Terrestrial Carbon Measurement: Version
2012. Winrock International.
Ashton, M.S., Tyrrell, M.L., Spalding, D., and Gentry, B. (Eds.). 2012.
Managing Forest Carbon in a Changing Climate. Springer. ISBN 978-94007-2232-3,
Pearson, Timothy R H ., Sandra Brown and Felipe M Casarim, 2014.
Carbon emissions from tropical forest degradation caused by logging
(Winrock International)
Brown, S., F.M. Casarim, S.K. Grimland and T. Pearson. 2011.
Carbon Impacts from Selective Logging of Forests in Berau, East
Kalimantan, Indonesia. Report to The Nature Conservancy.