There is probably some confustion about these numbers. To understand LULUCF, the United Nations has already defined it and encourages it as a remedy to a country's GHG burden.Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF)Background (click here)
The rate of build-up of CO2 in the atmosphere can be reduced by taking advantage of the fact that atmospheric CO2 can accumulate as carbon in vegetation and soils in terrestrial ecosystems. Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change any process, activity or mechanism which removes a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere is referred to as a "sink". Human activities impact terrestrial sinks, through land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) activities, consequently, the exchange of CO2 (carbon cycle) between the terrestrial biosphere system and the atmosphere is altered.
The role of LULUCF activities in the mitigation of climate change has long been recognized. Mitigation can be achieved through activities in the LULUCF sector that increase the removals of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the atmosphere or decrease emissions by sources leading to an accumulation of carbon stocks. An important feature of LULUCF activities in this context is their potential reversibility hence, non-permanence of the accumulated carbon stocks.
The role of LULUCF activities in the mitigation of climate change has long been recognized. Mitigation can be achieved through activities in the LULUCF sector that increase the removals of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the atmosphere or decrease emissions by sources leading to an accumulation of carbon stocks. An important feature of LULUCF activities in this context is their potential reversibility hence, non-permanence of the accumulated carbon stocks.
Forests present a significant global carbon stock accumulated through growth of trees and an increase in soil carbon. Estimates made for Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 (FRA 2015) show that the world’s forests and other wooded lands store more than 485 gigatonnes (1 Gt=1 billion tonnes) of carbon, 260 Gt in the biomass (53 percent), 37 Gt in dead wood and litter (8 percent) and 189 Gt in soil (39 percent). While sustainable management, planting and rehabilitation of forests can conserve or increase forest carbon stocks, deforestation, degradation and poor forest management do reduce carbon stocks. For the world as a whole, carbon stocks in forest biomass decreased by an estimated 0.22 Gt annually during the period 2011–2015. This was mainly because of a reduction in the global forest area.
Now remember, the economy of Austria supports a fairly consistent population. The land use for Austria is fairly consistent. Nearly half of the country is forest and I am fairly confident on a global basis it contributes to being a sink for GHG.
46.7% —or about 3,862,000 hectares—of Austria is forested. (click here)
Change in Forest Cover: Between 1990 and 2000, Austria gained an average of 6,200 hectares of forest per year. The amounts to an average annual reforestation rate of 0.16%. Between 2000 and 2005, the rate of forest change decreased by 23.8% to 0.13% per annum. In total, between 1990 and 2005, Austria gained 2.3% of its forest cover, or around 86,000 hectares. Measuring the total rate of habitat conversion (defined as change in forest area plus change in woodland area minus net plantation expansion) for the 1990-2005 interval, Austria gained 37.0% of its forest and woodland habitat.
Biodiversity and Protected Areas: Austria has some 549 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles according to figures from the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Of these, 0.5% are endemic, meaning they exist in no other country, and 2.4% are threatened. Austria is home to at least 3100 species of vascular plants, of which 1.1% are endemic. 28.0% of Austria is protected under IUCN categories I-V.
