EDF White Paper_positioning_the_land-use_sector_contribute_post_2020_climate_mitigation
As stated by ministers at a high-level panel at COP 19, addressing mitigation and adaptation in the land-use sector is essential for meeting the Convention’s ultimate objective. Most ministers called for three outcomes from the sector: simplicity, flexibility, and transparency. In this paper we present opportunities for meeting these outcomes for mitigation in the land-use sector,1 and
conclude that existing knowledge and experience can provide a sufficient basis for developing a simple and flexible yet harmonized and transparent approach to incorporating land-use contributions into the ADP.
While each Party may choose how to include the land-use sector in its intended nationally determined contribution (INDC), experience has shown that the sector, and Parties’ INDCs, will benefit from guidance about how Parties may be expected to account for their mitigation contributions. In anticipation of the need for such a framework under the ADP, we outline four
potential options, each of which would offer guidance for including land use in countries’ INDCs. The four options for incorporating a land-use accounting framework in the ADP are:
1. All participating Parties operating under a single, common set of accounting rules
2. Parties choose from one of a few differentiated modalities, all of which meet common
elements
3. Parties choose one of the existing accounting modalities (LULUCF, REDD+, CDM)
4. No overarching framework; Parties account using a self-defined approach
