Page1 Guidance for Tier 3 Land Covers in Kenya The Carbon Benefits Project Emissions Calculator provides default carbon stock values for Land Covers based upon regional Tier 1 data in the 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories published by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change. However, users may have access to local data sources, either from national inventory data (Tier 2) or their own project measurements (Tier 3). If local data is available, users should create and use new Land Covers when performing an analysis in the Emissions Calculator. This document provides some suggested Tier 3 Land Covers for common forest types throughout Kenya. The Tier 3 forest types are adapted from the FAO Forest Resource Assessment as reported in Kenya s submissions to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. These Tier 3 forest types are paired with similar Tier 1 default values taken from the IPCC. Source of Data The measurement team for the Carbon Benefits Project has completed inventories in a variety of land covers throughout Kenya. Michigan State University completed forest inventories in numerous forest types and climate zones throughout Kenya. MSU conducted forest inventories in Lambwe Forest, Kakamega Forest, Mau Forest, Aberdares National Park, Mount Kenya National Park, Tsavo National Park, and the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. The World Agroforestry Centre has provided soil organic carbon data collected throughout several watersheds in western Kenya that also included forest, agroforestry, and agricultural land covers. Additional sources of recent forest inventory data in Kenya have been provided by Eco2Librium LLC (Kakamega Forest), Wildlife Works Carbon LLC (Rukinga Ranch near Tsavo National Parks), Julia Glenday (Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and Kakamega Forest), and the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (near Aberdares and Mount Kenya National Parks). External sources of data are credited below as appropriate. The following examples provide actual field measurement data as suggested local and national alternatives to the default IPCC values for Kenyan land covers.
Page2 Figure 1a. Default values for Africa Tropical Dry Forest (natural) Figure 1b. Local measurement values for Indigenous Closed Canopy Forest (coastal dry). [Source: Forest inventory data from the coastal Arabuko-Sokoke Forest shared by Julia Glenday and published in: Glenday, J. 2008. Carbon storage and emissions offset potential in an African dry forest, the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, Kenya. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 142:85-95.]
Page3 Figure 2a. Default values for Africa Tropical Dry Forest (plantation) Figure 2b. Local measurement values for Africa Tropical Dry Forest (plantation) No local data available.
Page4 Figure 3a. Default values for Africa Tropical Moist Forest (natural) Figure 3b. Local measurement values for Indigenous Closed Canopy Forest (moist) [Source: Local data collected in the Mau Forest in western Kenya. Biomass data collected by Michigan State University for the Carbon Benefits Project.]
Page5 Figure 4a. Default values for Africa Tropical Moist Forest (plantation) Figure 4b. Local measurement values for Public Plantation Forests (moist) [Source: Local data collected in the public plantation forests administered by Kenya Forest Service near the Aberdares National Park in Kenya. Biomass data collected by Michigan State University for the Carbon Benefits Project.]
Page6 Figure 5a. Default values for Africa Tropical Rain Forest (natural) Figure 5b. Local measurement values for Indigenous Closed Canopy Forest (wet) [Source: Local data collected in the Kakamega Forest in western Kenya. Biomass data collected by Michigan State University for the Carbon Benefits Project.]
Page7 Figure 6a. Default values for Africa Tropical Rain Forest (plantation) Figure 6b. Local measurement values for Public Plantation Forests (wet) [Source: Local data collected in plantations in the Kakamega Forest in western Kenya. Biomass data collected by Michigan State University for the Carbon Benefits Project.]
Page8 Figure 7a. Default values for Africa Tropical Shrubland (natural) Figure 7b. Local measurement values for Open Woodlands (dry) [Source: Data collected outside East Tsavo National Park by Wildlife Works Carbon LLC on their Rukinga Ranch. See The Kasigau Corridor REDD Project Phase I Rukinga Sanctuary. VCS Project Design Document.] Note: Wildlife Works correctly defines Rukinga Ranch as tropical dry forest based on a 39% canopy cover which exceeds the UNFCCC definition of a forest : >30% canopy cover, mature height >5m, and > 1 ha. However, we are using their data to illustrate local measurements for Open Woodlands.
Page9 Figure 8a. Default values for Africa Tropical Shrubland (plantation) Figure 8b. Local measurement values for Africa Tropical Shrubland (plantation) No local data available.
Page10 Figure 9a. Default values for Africa Tropical Perennial / Tree Crop (agroforestry systems) Figure 9b. Local measurement values for Farms With Trees [Source: Local data collected on private farms with agroforestry systems in the Yala watershed in western Kenya. Biomass data collected by Michigan State University and SOC data collected by the World Agroforestry Centre.]