Abstract
Many countries, including South Korea, decided to suspend the inclusion of harvested wood products in their Nationally Determined Contributions, as part of the carbon inventory, in 2016. The inclusion of harvested wood products in the national greenhouse gases inventory must ensure the accuracy of carbon accounting and its conformity with the policy direction. The method used for harvested wood product carbon accounting can influence the accuracy of carbon account value, as well as policy direction based on greenhouse gas accounting. This research evaluated the utilization of domestic wood resources in South Korea in terms of carbon storage impacts from the perspective of the cascading use of wood products. The study also compared the two accounting methods (Tier 2 and Tier 3) of carbon storage for the period from 1970 to 2080, assuming the current pattern of wood resource utilization for the next sixty years. The results show that the current utilization of domestic wood resources is inefficient in terms of climate change mitigation. The analysis shows that there is a significant difference between the Tier 2 and Tier 3 methods in carbon storage effects, and the amount of harvested wood products carbon stock calculated by the Tier 2 method was found to be approximately double that of Tier 3. This result implies that there is a possibility of overestimating the carbon storage of harvested wood products when using the Tier 2 method in the case of net timber-importing countries, such as South Korea. The study can provide guidance for designing timber resource management from the perspective of the cascading use of wood products in order to contribute to sustainable development goals, including climate change mitigation.
Highlights
Greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction by conserving carbon stocks in forests and increasing carbon uptake through improved forest management and reforestation are important tools for mitigating climate change [1]
As a result of analyzing the use of domestic timber, in accordance with the proposed cascading use criterion to maximize the carbon storage of Harvested wood products (HWPs), approximately 72% of domestic roundwood was supplied to Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and wood chips, crushing the wood resources directly to produce fiberboard and pulp
The activity data and assumed half-life time of wood products used for carbon accounting of HWPs in use have a significant impact on the amount of carbon stocks [45]
Summary
Greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction by conserving carbon stocks in forests and increasing carbon uptake through improved forest management and reforestation are important tools for mitigating climate change [1]. Harvested wood products (HWPs) have been recognized for their contribution to the reduction in GHGs by storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in trees before decaying and combustion. When trees are harvested from forests, a significant amount of carbon is released, but will be continually stored in wooden products (e.g., in wood products as a building material, furniture, and paper) [2]. HWP, contributes to sequestering carbon dioxide over a period of time, rather than being immediately released into the atmosphere after harvesting [3]. HWPs as a carbon pool in the second Kyoto implementation period were ratified by the parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The parties were able to account for carbon stored in HWPs as a means to reduce GHG emissions and include them in their national carbon inventory. In the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) submitted by the parties to the UNFCCC under the Paris Agreement, many parties
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