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The Land Use and Carbon Analysis System (LUCAS) is being implemented by the Ministry for the Environment to meet New Zealand’s reporting requirements under the Kyoto Protocol, to allow New Zealand to claim credits for our carbon sinks under the Kyoto Protocol.
LUCAS will enable accounting and reporting of afforestation, reforestation and deforestation. It will be used to manage information relating to land use categories including forest land, croplands, grassland, wetlands, and settlements. LUCAS will calculate the amount of carbon stored in forests and soils and how these carbon stocks change with land use. It will involve reporting for five terrestrial carbon 'pools': Above-ground biomass, Below-ground biomass, Dead wood, Litter and Soil organic matter.
LUCAS will involve a national forest inventory that can be used for biodiversity assessments of indigenous forest and will also provide shrublands and sampling frameworks for regional and local vegetation monitoring.
A presentation about LUCAS by Steve Botica is available as part of the 2010 National Workshop resources.
Discuss LUCAS in the Dataversity Public Discussion group.