This is the website for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals
related to ecosystems and ecosystem change..
Greenhouse gases are commonly associated with burning of fossil fuels for
the purposes of transportation or heating.
However, land usage also plays a part in the greenhouse gas budget.
As part of a national inventory of greenhouse gases, CEH calculate
emissions and removals related to ecosystems and ecosystem change.
Land use has a unique and important part to play in reducing
emissions of greenhouse gases because in this sector they can be removed from the
atmosphere. With some land uses however there is the potential for
large emissions to the atmosphere. On balance, Land Use, Land Use
Change and Forestry is currently a net sink for greenhouse gases.
Since March 1994, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Reporting Guidelines on Annual Inventories have required Parties to
provide annual national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories covering
emissions and removals of direct GHGs from six sectors, and for
all years from the base year (currently 1990) to the most recent year.
The six Sectors are 1. Energy, 2.
Industrial processes, 3.Solvent & Other Product
Use, 4. Agriculture, 5. Land Use,
Land Use Change and Forestry and 6. Waste.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
and, more recently, the Department of Energy and Climate Change
(DECC) take the lead in preparing the annual inventory of greenhouse
gas emissions for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland. The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology has been responsible
for preparing the Sector 5 tables relating to Land Use, Land Use
Change and Forestry (LULUCF) .
Sector 5: Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry
Inventory data and related
can be downloaded from this site.