Land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) is defined by the UN Climate Change Secretariat as "A greenhouse gas inventory sector that covers emissions and removals of greenhouse gases resulting from direct human-induced land use, land-use change and forestry activities."[1]
LULUCF has impacts on the global carbon cycle and as such these activities can add or remove carbon dioxide (or, more generally, carbon) from the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. LULUCF has been the subject of two major reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Additionally, land use is of critical importance for biodiversity.
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Land-use change can be a factor in CO2 atmospheric concentration, and is thus a contributor to climate change. IPCC estimates that land-use change (e.g. conversion of forest into agricultural land) contributes a net 1.6 ± 0.8 Gt carbon per year to the atmosphere. For comparison, the major source of CO2, namely emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production amount to 6.3 ± 0.6 Gt carbon per year.[2]
The IPCC also states that from 1850 to 1998, about 136 (+ 55) Gt carbon has been emitted as a result of land-use change, predominantly from forest ecosystems. For comparison, 270 (+ 30) Gt carbon has been emitted as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from fossil fuel burning and cement production[3].
Rules governing the treatment of land use, land-use change and forestry for the first Kyoto Accord commitment period were negotiated after the signing of the Accord itself and were finalized in Marrakech in 2001. The rules were formally accepted by the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol as part of Decision 16/CMP.1 [4] at the first conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Accord in Montreal in 2006.
This decision sets out the rules that govern how Kyoto Parties with emission reduction commitments (co-called Annex 1 Parties) account for changes in carbon stocks in land use, land-use change and forestry. It is mandatory for Annex 1 Parties to account for changes in carbons stocks resulting from afforestation, reforestation and afforestation (B Article 3.3) [5] and voluntary to account for emissions from forest management, cropland management, grazing land management and revegetation (B. Article 3.4).
The rules governing the treatment of land use, land-use change and forestry for the second commitment period are currently being renegotiated as part of the Bali Action Plan under the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex 1 Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) [6].
The most recent options for rule changes under consideration are summarized in a "Non-Paper" the co-chairs of the contact group on LULUCF (as of June 12)[7].
The extent, and type of land use directly affects wildlife habitat and thereby impacts local and global biodiversity. Human alteration of landscapes from natural vegetation (e.g. wilderness) to any other use typically results in habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation, all of which can have devastating effects on biodiversity. Land conversion is the single greatest cause of extinction of terrestrial species[8]. An example of land conversion being a chief cause of the critically endangered status of a carnivore is the reduction in habitat for the African Wild Dog, Lycaon pictus.)[9]
Of particular concern is deforestation, where logging or burning are followed by the conversion of the land to agriculture or other land uses. Even if some forests are left standing, the resulting fragmented landscape typically fails to support many species that previously existed there.
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   | IPCC Special Report on Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry - Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry |
| | Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry - IPCC - National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme |
| | Climate change impact in Europe - Forestry Horizons - the independent forestry think-tank |
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