CarbEF : a software for reporting carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation under REDD+ : applying IPCC guidelines on forest cover change maps

This document describes a carbon emission reporting method based on maps of forest changes. The method is based on the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Changes (IPCC) guidelines to define forests, deforestation, and forest degradation from multi-temporal tree cover change maps. The CarbEF module of the IMPACT toolbox software implements this method and produces reports. CarbEF module reports "activity" data and carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation using: (i) A map of tree cover loss, usually generated from multi-temporal tree cover maps at fine spatial resolution (i.e. maps of tree cover loss at ≤30m resolution), (ii) A national forest definition and (iii) Forest carbon stock values (from national data or other scientific literature). CarbEF can be used to analyse a single period of change or to compare two consecutive periods.