Article 3.3 and 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol: consequences for industrialised countries’ commitment,the monitoring needs,and possible side effects

In the Kyoto Protocol, industrialised countries have agreed to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. To achieve that target, direct human induced activities initiated in the Land-use Change and Forestry sector since 1990, shall be included. However, the wording in the Protocol has caused confusion. The IPCC has been requested to deliver a Special Report on Land-use, Land-use Change and Forestry issues arising from this Protocol. In the present study a limited initial assessment of the implications of alternative interpretations of Afforestation, Reforestation and Deforestation (ARD), addition of the soils compartment, the selection of additional activities, and feasibility of monitoring was done for a limited number of countries.The results show that it is possible to keep the biosphere articles in the Protocol even though we had to make several assumptions concerning for example, areas of application and effectiveness of additional activities. The consequences of alternative interpretations for ARD have a large impact on the countries’ assigned amount; varying from a compensation of 26% of total national emissions (Forestry interpretation for Sweden) to an addition of an extra 13% of the emissions (Global interpretation for Australia). Through selection of a large set of additional activities, most of the studied industrialised countries achieve more sequestration than the reduction of emissions they have committed themselves to. Methods for monitoring are available, but there is no one ideal method. Depending on scale and site: a combination of forest inventory with flux measurements and remote sensing is proposed.     

Coping with the ‘Indian summer’: unique nesting cycle and nest architecture of the paper wasp,Polistes wattii

The Science of Nature - Leaf-cutting ants are highly successful herbivores in the Neotropics. They forage large amounts of fresh plant material to nourish a symbiotic fungus that sustains the...     

The wind rises abruptly,disturbing a pond of ‘Clear Water’: reflections on the pollution blacklisting of 33 Chinese multinationals

With the deepening globalization many multinationals have become a universal concern in developing countries not only because of their importance in foreign direct investment (FDI) activities, but also because of their critical role in environmental protection. In the wake of sporadic exposures of multinational environmental disturbances in the past months, just recently another 33 multinationals have been disclosed blacklisted on the internet for their failure to observe the Chinese environmental standards. All these have cast a shadow over their traditional responsible image. The paper tries to explore possible underlying causes behind this discredit through an analysis of multinational compliance, governmental management as well as public participation. Based on this, the paper also raises some key concerns that must be addressed and further studied to understand the environmental disturbances of the multinationals as a whole, and identifies solutions for these issues with an attempt to make recommendations for the improvement of the effectiveness of the Chinese environmental policies and regulations within the arena of foreign-funded industries.