LSFRI "Silava" is the partner in the research project P11 "Elaboration of guidelines and modelling tool for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction in forests on nutrient-rich organic soils" of the research direction "Increasing the capital value of forests and forestry", led by Forest Sector Competence Centre of Latvia (CFCA agreement No. 1.2.1.1/18/A/004)
The aim of the study is to provide forest owners with decision support tools, including carbon input and GHG emission factors and modelling tools for projections of the impact of the climate change mitigation measures in forests with nutrient-rich organic soils.
The topicality of the study is determined by the significant amount of GHG emissions from organic soils, which also indicate significant opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by improving forest management practices in peatlands and marshes on low-peat peat soils. Calculations of GHG emissions from organic soil in Latvia have so far been done using guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which contain methods with high uncertainty and which have not been verified by measurements in Latvia and therefore are not applicable for assessing the impact of the forest management contribution to reduction of GHG emissions.
The main results of the study are tools for modelling GHG emissions, assessment of the potential impact of climate change mitigation measures, results of a forest owner survey which will characterize the readiness of project target groups to implement research results and preconditions for implementing climate change mitigation measures on organic soils in forests for to contribute to the climate change mitigation targets. The results of the study will be used to improve the national GHG inventory and related documents, which set out commitments on climate change mitigation and describe the effect of measures implemented in the LULUCF sector.