[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 79 (Wednesday, April 24, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24287-24288]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-09689]
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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
[Public Notice 8289]
Call for Expert Reviewers to the U.S. Government Review of the
2013 Revised Supplementary Methods and Good Practice Guidance Arising
From the Kyoto Protocol
SUMMARY: The United States Global Change Research Program, in
cooperation with the Department of State, request expert review of the
Second Order Draft of the 2013 Revised Supplementary Methods and Good
Practice Guidance Arising from the Kyoto Protocol (the KP Supplement).
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) established the IPCC in 1988. In
accordance with its mandate and as reaffirmed in various decisions by
the Panel, the major activity of the IPCC is to prepare comprehensive
and up-to-date assessments of policy-relevant scientific, technical,
and socio-economic information for understanding the scientific basis
of climate change, potential impacts, and options for mitigation and
adaptation. Among the IPCC's products is a series of guidance documents
for the preparation of national greenhouse gas inventories, which
provide guidance to periodic submissions by Parties to the U.N.
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). These reports are
developed in accordance with procedures for preparation and review of
IPCC documents, which can be found at the following Web sites:
http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization_review.shtml#.UEY0LqSe7x8
http://ipcc.ch/organization/organization_procedures.shtml
The UNFCCC Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the
Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) at its seventh session (CMP7), held
in December 2011 in Durban, South Africa, invited the IPCC to review
and, if necessary, update supplementary methodologies for estimating
anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions by sources and removals by sinks
resulting from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF)
activities under Article 3, paragraphs 3 and 4, of the Kyoto Protocol
(KP), related to the annex to 2/CMP.7, on the basis of, inter alia,
Chapter 4 of IPCC's 2003 Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use
Change and Forestry (GPG-LULUCF). At its 35th plenary session held in
Geneva, Switzerland, in June 2012, the IPCC asked its Task Force on
National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI) to review and update its
supplementary guidance on greenhouse gas emissions and removals from
land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) for reporting under the
Kyoto Protocol.
The need to review and update Chapter 4 of the GPG-LULUCF arises
for two reasons. Firstly, the methodologies contained in Chapter 4
provide the link between IPCC's general greenhouse gas inventory
guidance, and reporting requirements under the KP. CMP7 agreed rules
for LULUCF for the second commitment period under the KP which differ
in some respects significantly from the rules agreed for the first
commitment period, implying the need to update. Secondly, since Chapter
4 was intended to be used with the latest IPCC LULUCF guidance updating
is needed to take account of the decision of the CMP to use the 2006
IPCC Guidelines for the purposes of the second commitment period under
the KP. The new rules referred to and agreed by CMP7 on LULUCF contain,
amongst other things, new provisions on forest management, emissions
and removals associated with natural disturbances in forests, harvested
wood products, and wetland drainage and rewetting, which are not
covered in the existing Chapter 4.
It is worth noting that the KP Supplement is specific to provisions
of the Kyoto Protocol and the United States will, therefore, not be
obligated to use these supplementary methods.
As part of the U.S. Government Review of the Second Order Draft of
the KP Supplement, the U.S. Government is soliciting comments from
experts in relevant fields of expertise (The Terms of Reference, Work
Plan and Table of Contents for the TFI contribution can be viewed here:
http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/home/docs/1206_TermsOfReference.pdf).
Beginning on 22 April 2013, experts may register and access the
Second Order Draft of the report to contribute to the U.S. Government
review at: review.globalchange.gov. To be considered for inclusion in
the U.S. Government submission, comments must be received by 23 May
2013. The
[[Page 24288]]
United States Global Change Research Program will coordinate collection
and compilation of U.S. expert comments to develop a consolidated U.S.
Government submission, which will be provided to the IPCC by 2 June
2013. Instructions for review and submission of comments are available
at: review.globalchange.gov.
Experts may choose to provide comments directly through the IPCC's
Expert Review process, which occurs in parallel with the U.S.
Government Review. More information on the IPCC's comment process can
be found at http://www.ipcc.ch/activities/activities.shtml and http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/forms/wetlandsreview_registration.html. To
avoid duplication, comments submitted for consideration as part of the
U.S. Government Review should not also be sent to the IPCC Secretariat
through the Expert Review process (and vice versa). Comments to the
U.S. government review should be submitted using the web-based system
at: review.globalchange.gov.
This certification will be published in the Federal Register.
Dated: April 17, 2013.
Trigg Talley,
Director, Office of Global Change, Department of State.
[FR Doc. 2013-09689 Filed 4-23-13; 8:45 am]
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