CC:INFO/AIJ: FOREST REHABILITATION IN KRKONOSE AND SUMAVA NATIONAL PARKS

A. Description of project

A. 1) Title of project:

FOREST REHABILITATION IN KRKONOSE AND SUMAVA NATIONAL PARKS

A. 2) Participants/actors:

Please fill in one table for each participant/actor. For individuals fill in as from item "Function within activity".

name of organisation:	Krkonose Narodni Parku
name of organisation (English)	Krkonose National Park
Department	Head Office of Forest Management
Acronym	KRNAP
acronym (English)	KRNAP
function within activity	contract partner
Street	P.O. Box 71
post code	54301
City	Vrchlabi
Country	Czech Republic
Telephone	+42 438 285 422
Fax	id
e-mail	zfajfr@krnap.cz
WWW-URL
contact person	Mr. O. Labek
Surname	Labek
first name, middle name
job title	director
direct tel	+42 438 285 411
direct fax
direct e-mail

name of organisation:	Sprava Narodniho Parku a Chranene Krajinne Oblasti Sumava
name of organisation (English)	Sumava National Park
Department	Head Office of Forest Management
Acronym	SNP
acronym (English)	SNP
function within activity	Contract partner
Street
post code	385 01
City	Vimperk
Country	Czech Republic
Telephone	+42 339 23000
Fax	+42 339 23019
e-mail	Vimperk@npsumava.cz
WWW-URL
contact person	Mr. Ing. Ivan Zlabek
Surname	Zlabek
first name, middle name	Ivan
job title	Director
direct tel	Id
direct fax	Id
direct e-mail

name of organisation:	Stichting Face
name of organisation (English)	Face Foundation (Forest Absorbing carbon dioxide Emission)
Department
Acronym	Face
acronym (English)	Face
function within activity	Funding partner
Street	Utrechtseweg 310
post code	P.O. Box 575, NL-6800 AN
City	Arnhem
Country	The Netherlands
telephone	+31 26 372 1631
fax	+31 26 372 1613
e-mail	face@facefoundation.nl
WWW-URL	http://www.facefoundation.nl
contact person	Mr ir J.A. Verweij
surname	Verweij
first name, middle name	Hans
job title	Director
direct tel	Id
direct fax	Id
direct e-mail	hans@facefoundation.nl

name of organisation:	N.V. Samenwerkende Electriciteitsproductiebedrijven
name of organisation (English)	Dutch Electricity Generating Board
Department
Acronym	N.V. Sep
acronym (English)	N.V. Sep
function within activity	funding partner
Street	Utrechtseweg 310
post code	P.O. Box 575
City	NL- 6800 AN Arnhem
Country	The Netherlands
Telephone	+31 26 372 14 25
Fax	+31 26 443 08 58
e-mail	StibbeWAS@sep.nl
WWW-URL
contact person
surname	Van Loon
first name, middle name	Maus
job title	Director
direct tel	+31 26 372 13 04
direct fax	+31 26 443 08 58
direct e-mail

A. 3) Activity:

Item	Please fill in if applicable
General description:	see text below
Type of project:^a)	Forest restoration
Location (exact, e.g. city, region, State):	Krkonose National Park Sumava National Park
Activity starting date:	01-10-1992
Expected activity ending date:	2008
Stage of activity:^b)	In progress
Lifetime of activity if different from ending date:^c)	99 years
Technical data:^d)	Forest restoration of 9,000 ha in Krkonose and 5,000 ha in Sumava The project time of 15 years is divided in contracts of 3 years each

^a) For example, using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) classification: energy efficiency; renewable energy; fuel switching; forest preservation, restoration or reforestation; afforestation; fugitive gas capture; industrial processes; solvents; agriculture; waste disposal or bunker fuels.

^b) Circle the appropriate option.

^c) Methodological work will be required to define lifetime of activities.

^d) Methodological work will be required to determine for each type of activity what the minimum data requirements are.

General description Krkonose:

Area to which Face wishes to contribute: 9,000 ha

Goal for period 1992-1997: 3,855 ha

Area planted as at 31-12-96: 2,800 ha

The Giant Mountains (Krkonose) lie in the centre of the so-called Black Triangle. The great increase in acidifying deposits in the period 1950 to 1990 resulted in large scale death or morbidity of trees in this area on the borders of the Czech Republic, Poland and the former DDR. The restoration of Krkonose National Park in the Giant Mountains commenced back in 1992. The first phase of that project has been completed and 1,455 ha of forest have been restored by planting mainly Norway spruce, beech and elderberry. In the second contract term of the reforestation project in Krkonose the initial recommendations resulting from the research carried out by the Department of Physical Geography of the University of Amsterdam, and the Opoçno Forestry Research Station have been implemented. It has been concluded (partly on the basis of these results) that several locations will recover spontaneously in the next few years. The condition of several other areas is such, however, that it is doubtful whether new plantings will succeed. The areas in these two categories have therefore been removed from the envisaged project area.

General description Sumava:

Area to which Face wishes to contribute: 5,000 ha

Goal for period 1995-1997: 1,200 ha

Area planted as at 31-12-96: 818 ha

The restoration of the Sumava National Park was started in 1995 in accordance with the agreements made with Czech Ministry for the Environment. The reduction of the area to be planted in the Giant Mountains is entirely compensated for by the restoration of the Bohemian forest (Sumava). The Sumava National Park lies on the border between the Czech Republic and the German federal state of Bavaria. It is 169,000 ha in area (including its border zones), of which 50,000 ha of forest lies in a protected area. Together with the Bavarian Forest across the border, this protected area, which is also known as the Bohemian Forest, is 82,100 ha in extent. Reforestation with monocultures in the last century and the increase in air pollution have resulted in the vitality of large areas of forest declining dramatically. Further research has shown that this deterioration is partly attributable to the planting of non-adapted species. These adult trees are not optimally suited to the conditions of this low mountain range, making them an easy prey for bark beetles such as the spruce bark beetle. The managers of the National Park are now selecting seeds for the new planting material from the remaining original trees. In total, 5,000 ha need to be restored. In the current three-year phase Face will provide financial support for the reforestation of 1,200 ha in Sumava.

A. 4) Cost (to the extent possible):

Item	Year 1	Year 2	...	Year X
Cost of the project in US$:	see separate table
AIJ component in US$:
US$ per avoided ton of CO2 equivalent:

Describe briefly how costs are determined:

Face buys the capacity of the forest to sequester CO₂ and also the CO₂ sequestered by the forest system. Since these products can only be delivered after a very long period, Face contracts run for 99 years. The forest owner must guarantee to maintain the forest's capacity to sequester CO₂ during this period. The contract partner retains ownership and usufruct of the land and of the forest and its products. The actual afforestation always takes three years. A new contract is agreed for each new phase of the afforestation. The body responsible for the afforestation draws up a plan of operation for this, and Face provides funds after approving the planted area. In each subsequent phase Face's contribution is established on the basis of the new plan of operation. The forested areas are managed in accordance with a management plan that has been approved by Face. This plan becomes a contract document after the afforestation period (which always lasts three years). The management plan contains detailed information about the forest management during the 99 years covered by the contract, but may be revised every ten years.

Face classes as costs both its administrative expenses and its financial contributions to the forestation projects (i.e. the hectare price). Face partially funds the planting of forests and their maintenance for the first three years thereafter. Face thereby pays a price for the CO₂ sequestration that the rehabilitated forest achieves during its long growing period. This is called the hectare price. The costs incurred by the contract partner, including the latter's contributions to the reafforestation are not counted as part of the costs of CO₂ sequestration. The owner has an other independent, commercial interest in the forest, matched by earnings from its management. The office costs includes the costs of preparation, identification, development-monitoring and other information systems, monitoring, project supervision and overheads. Project costs include the actual project costs (the hectare price) and the costs of ancillary research.

For the projects in Czech Republic the contribution of Face comes about 80% of the total costs.

Czech Republic
Year	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Costs (in 1000 US$)
Project	1688	3293	3800	4199	4345	3850	3500	3500	3500
Overhead Face	625	436	394	413	360	335	317	317	333
Total	2313	3729	4194	4612	4705	4185	3817	3817	3833
Cumulative costs	2313	6042	10236	14848	19553	23738	27555	31371	35205
AIJ component 80%
Cost per sequestered ton CO2		6.35	8.72	6.34	5.45	6.81	5.20	5.20	5.22
Cumulative cost per ton CO2		10.29	9.58	8.27	7.35	7.25	6.88	6.62	6.43

Czech Republic
Year	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Costs (in 1000 US$)
project	3500	3500	3500	3500	3500	3500	1523
overhead Face	333	333	367	383	383	460	480
total	3833	3833	3867	3883	3883	3960	2003
cumulative costs	39038	42871	46738	50621	54505	58465	60468
AIJ component 80%
cost per sequestered ton CO2	5.22	5.22	5.27	5.29	5.29	5.39	6.32
cumulative cost per ton CO2	6.29	6.17	6.09	6.02	5.96	5.92	5.93

A. 5) Mutually agreed assessment procedures:

Describe the procedures, including name of organisations involved⁾:

see below

^a) Please ensure that detailed contact information for all organisations mentioned is reported under

section A.2 above.

Project Monitoring

Face has developed a monitoring system to supervise the realisation of the contract as well as determining and monitoring the amount of carbon sequestrated.

There are two stages to contract implementation:

- 0-3 years. Planting and initial management

- 3-96 years. Management aimed at maintenance

In accordance with the contract every project partner will submit a detailed account of planned and executed activities. During the planting stage (0-3 years), the partner will submit a biannual account of the activities carried out, in a quantitative, qualitative and financial sense. The financial inspections carried out by or on behalf of Face serve among other things to guarantee that the financial contributions made by Face are supplementary and hence necessary.

Face employees visit project areas at least once a year for inspection and to discuss progress. Fixed inspections take place at the end of the planting stage (i.e. at contract end). Face is advised and supported in this by external forestry and financial experts.

Under the contract, Face employees have the authority to visit project areas announced or unannounced, and may expect full co-operation from the contract partners at all times.

As a third inspection tool, Face has satellite images of the project areas at its disposal. Due to the scale of the projects and their remote locations, this is the only opportunity to survey the forest presence and the development of these ecosystems. The development of the vegetation can be traced by comparing satellite images taken at regular intervals. Poor growth or any felling can quickly be pinpointed and checked in the field. The satellite images are used to determine:

- differences in vegetation (pasture turns to forest)

- forest development (age, type, crown cover)

- carbon density (biomass)

The first satellite images are compared with ground truth, to ensure that subsequent satellite images are interpreted correctly. This initial comparison is also used to decide on the best interval between the satellite images. The forest canopy in the Krknose (Giant Mountains) in the Czech Republic closes 7 years after planting.

MONIS

On account of the large quantity of information and the need for methodical presentation of this information, Face commissioned the development of a computerised monitoring and information system (MONIS), a flexible, user-friendly system which has been tailor-made for use by both Face and the various project partners. It includes an integral planning system, which allows project executors to develop and monitor their own plans, in both an organisational and a financial capacity. Face is then able to obtain uniformly formatted reports on the realisation of these plans.

MONIS consists of a database and a geographical information system (GIS). The project implementers are responsible for inputting the data and for this will be linked electronically with Face's central database.

The database contains information on:

_ contract

_ management

_ field data

_ calculated amount of carbon

_ inspections

_ interpretation of satellite pictures

_ project planning

_ project realisation

_ cost calculation

Digital images and maps are stored in the GIS, including:

- satellite images

- topical maps based on these images (vegetation, ground cover, etc.)

- reproduction of contract areas (compartments)

- other maps, where available (aerial, soil, geology, hydrology, land use)

A Cost Comparison Model (CCM) has been developed for checking and comparing project expenditure. It will be linked to MONIS.

B. Governmental acceptance, approval or endorsement

Bearing in mind that all activities implemented jointly under this pilot phase require prior acceptance, approval or endorsement by the Governments of the Parties participating in these activities, which shall be shown as follows:

(a) In the case of joint reporting, the report is submitted by the designated national authority of one participating Party with the concurrence of all other participating Parties as evidenced by attached letters issued by the relevant national authorities;

(b) In the case of separate reporting, the reports are submitted separately by the designated national authority of each and every participating Party. Information will only be compiled once reports have been received from all participating Parties.

B. 1) For the activity:

* First report and joint reporting: please add copies of letters of endorsement by each designated national authority of Parties involved in the activity.

* Subsequent reports:

Activity was: o suspended

o terminated earlier

Describe:

B. 2) This report is a joint report:

o Yes, forward copy of agreement/endorsement by the designated national authorities involved

o No

B. 3) General short comment by the government(s) if applicable:

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the Czech Ministry of Environment and Face. A Letter of Intent between the Czech Minister of Environment and the Dutch Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment is being prepared.

C. Compatibility with and supportiveness of national economic development and socio-economic and environment priorities and strategies

Describe (to the extent possible) how the activity is compatible with and supportive of national economic development and socio-economic and environment priorities and strategies

Both project areas are national parks. This means that the national policy of the Czech government is to protect and restore the (natural) ecosystems in the parks. Both national parks are regarded as biosphere resources by the UNESCO.

A Memorandum of Understanding is signed by the Czech government and the Face foundation, which declares that the project is compatible with and supportive of the National Czech policy.

The national parks attract a growing number of foreign tourists per year.

D. Benefits derived from the activities implemented jointly project

Whenever possible, quantitative information should be provided. Failing that, a qualitative description should be given. If quantitative information becomes available, it could be submitted using the update(s). (If the amount of quantitative information is too large, the source could be indicated.)

Item	Please fill in
Describe environmental benefits in detail:	-sequestration of CO₂ -restoration of nature and natural values in an ‘UNESCO global biodiversity reserve’ -stabilising the ecosystems, therefore less pests -increasing the waterretention capacity of the area -protection and strengthening of the gene pool -generating knowledge about the restoration of ecosystems -generating knowledge about recovery after acid deposition
Do quantitative data exist for evaluation of environmental benefits?	Yes
Describe social/cultural benefits in detail:	-conservation of the landscape -improving the variety and the attractiveness of the forest (no monocultures)
Do quantitative data exist for evaluation of social benefits?	Yes
Describe economic benefits in detail:	-the project offers work for 140 people for 7-8 months a year -tourism is an important source of income for the area. The die-back of the forests would eventually lead to a less appreciated landscape and less visitors. Through durable restoration of the forests this source of income is secured
Do quantitative data exist for evaluation of economic benefits?	Yes

E. Calculation of the contribution of activities implemented jointly projects that bring about real, measurable and long-term environmental benefits related to the mitigation of climate change that would not have occurred in the absence of such activities

E. 1) Estimated emissions without the activity (project baseline):

Description of the baseline or reference scenario, including methodologies applied:

Calculation of Carbon Sequestration

The dynamic computation model CO2FIX forming part of MONIS is used to determine the quantity of carbon sequestrated by a forest ecosystem. CO2FIX has been developed in 1993 by the IBN-DLO, the Dutch Institute for Forestry and Nature Research. The model calculates the build-up of the carbon store on the basis of 14 parameters about the forest ecosystem (speed of growth, conversion of deadwood, humus accumulation, etc.).

A study to the carbon fixation in 16 different types of forest throughout the world has been done by the IBN-DLO under commission of Face. The report on this subject entitled "Carbon fixation through forestation activities" (G.J. Nabuurs & G.M.J. Mohren, 1993, IBN-DLO Research Report 93/4, IBN-DLO, Wageningen, The Netherlands - ISSN: 0928-6896) has been reviewed and approved by international experts. The study shows that the amount of carbon sequestrated in a mature forest ecosystem varies from less than 200 tonnes to more than 500 tonnes per hectare, according to the type of forest.

The growth curve of a forest follows an S shape. During the first years the increase in stored carbon is minimal or even negative due to the release of carbon dioxide through plant activity and the decomposition of organic matter. The accumulation of biomass ensues. The mature stage is characterised by a decrease in growth. When the amount of carbon stored is equal to the amount released from the decomposition of old plant matter, the ecosystem is fully developed. There are a few ecosystems where the build-up of the carbon deposits in the soil continues after the maturity age. This signifies that in most of the forests where Face is active, carbon stores will have reached maximum levels after approximately 60 years.

The amount of carbon for which crediting can be obtained is the amount additionally sequestrated on the contract area. This is the maximum amount present in the projects financed by Face (scenario projects) minus the amount which would have been sequestrated or present without forest plantation (baseline scenario).

C_ad = C_tot - C_ba

where

C_ad = the additional amount of carbon

C_tot = the total amount of carbon

C_ba = the baseline amount of carbon

The CO2FIX model calculates the amount of carbon sequestrated in forest ecosystems. Additional methods will therefore be used in the definition of the baseline: literary research, field surveys and remote-sensing techniques.

Baseline

The baseline is the development of the forests given unchanged management. The died-back forests were monocultures of Norway spruce of a wide variety of origins. Research conducted by the University of Amsterdam into the ecology of the forests in the Giant Mountains reveals that in the event of unchanged management the die-back of the forests would continue unabated, leaving only grass vegetation with a sporadic chance of isolated tree growth. The carbon content of such vegetation has been determined at 153 tonnes/ha.

E. 2) Estimated emissions with the activity:

Description of the scenario, including methodologies applied:

Project scenario

Under the project scenario the forest vegetation recovers and the ecosystem contains 346 tonnes of carbon per hectare. From the point of clear-felling it would take 120 years to build up to this level. In many parts of the project area, however, the carbon stores could be built up more rapidly as it would not be a matter of starting from clear-felling.

Additional

An amount of 193 tonnes of carbon would be sequestrated additionally per hectare in 120 years, equal to 708 tonnes of CO₂ per hectare.

Fill in the following tables as applicable:

E.2.1) Summary table: Projected emission reduction s:

	GHG	Year 1	Year 2	...	Year X
A) Project baseline scenario	CO2	see separate table on next pages
B) Project activity scenario^a)	CO2
C) Effect ( B-A )	CO2
D) Cumulative effect	CO2

^a) Includes indirect GHG leakages.

E.2.2) Summary table: Actual emission reductions :

	GHG	Year 1	Year 2	...	Year X
A) Project baseline scenario	CO2	see separate table on next pages
B) Project activity data^a)	CO2
C) Effect ( B-A )	CO2
D) Cumulative effect	CO2

^a) Includes indirect GHG leakages.

Czech Republic
Year	norm	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Sequestration (1000 ton CO2)
Projected
number of ha planted			750	750	1000	1000	837	1.000	1.000	1.000
project scenario	1276		957	957	1276	1276	1068	1276	1276	1276
baseline scenario	542		407	407	542	542	454	542	542	542
Additional	734		551	551	734	734	615	734	734	734
cumulative effect			551	1138	1803	2530	3273	4007	4742	5476
Actual
Number of ha planted			800	655	991	1175	354
Project scenario	1276		1021	837	1265	1500	452
Baseline scenario	542		434	355	537	637	192
Additional	734		587	481	727	863	260
Cumulative additional			587	1068	1796	2659	2919

Czech Republic
Year	norm	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	total ha
Sequestration (1000 ton CO2)
Projected
Number of ha planted		1000	1000	1000	1000	1000	1000	432		13769
Project scenario	1276	1276	1276	1276	1276	1276	1276	551
Baseline scenario	542	542	542	542	542	542	542	234
Additional	734	734	734	734	734	734	734	317
Cumulative additional		6210	6944	7678	8412	9147	9881	10198
Actual
Number of ha planted										3975
Project scenario	1276
Baseline scenario	542
Additional	734
Cumulative additional

F. Bearing in mind that the financing of activities implemented jointly shall be additional to financial obligations of Parties included in Annex II to the Convention within the framework of the financial mechanism as well as to current official development assistance flows , please indicate

Source of project funding

including pre-feasibility phase

(For each source one line)

Amount

(US dollars)

N.V. Sep (period: 1992-1996)

19,553,000

N.V. Sep (period: 1997-2007)

40,915,000

G. Contribution to capacity building, transfer of environmentally sound technologies and know-how to other Parties, particularly developing country Parties, to enable them to implement the provisions of the Convention. In this process, the developed country Parties shall support the development and enhancement of endogenous capacities and technologies of developing country Parties

Describe briefly the transfer of environmentally sound technology and know-how including where appropriate the type of technology, terms, education, capacity building etc.

A scientific research project ‘Restoration of Forest Ecosystems in the National Park Krkonose’ was set up and financed by Face Foundation. Under the project extensive research has been carried out to the ecology of the forests and the impact of the acidifying emissions. This research has been carried out by the University of Amsterdam in collaboration with the forestry research institute of Opocno and several other institutes and local companies.

Currently the research is in its second phase. Final reports are expected August 1997.

Part of the research involves the development and implementation of GIS-databases and tools.

publications:

-Spatial variation in acidification in beech stands and in spruce stands in the Krkonose Mountains, 1993, J. Conoinck and S. Rumahloine, Prof.H.C. van Hall Institute, Groningen

The MONIS system, the advanced monitoring tool developed for Face is implemented at the projects as well.

Next to this a research to the indogenous population of spruce and the development of methods to distinguish the different provenances of spruce by means of phenotypic and genotypic (terpenes, amino acid composition) is funded.

H. Additional comments, if any, including any practical experience gained or technical difficulties, effects, impacts or other obstacles encountered

Fill in as appropriate:

H. 1) Any practical experience gained:

H. 2) Technical difficulties:

H. 3) negative impacts and/or effects encountered:

Item	Please fill in
Describe environmental negative impacts/effects in detail:	None
Do quantitative data exist for evaluation of environmental negative impacts/effects?	Not applicable
Describe social/cultural negative impacts/effects in detail:	None
Do quantitative data exist for evaluation of social negative impacts/effects?	Not applicable
Describe economic negative impacts/effects in detail:	None
Do quantitative data exist for evaluation of economic negative impacts/effects?	Not applicable

H. 4) Other obstacles encountered:

H. 5) Other:

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