Canada’s forest carbon reporting system
The National Forest Carbon Monitoring, Accounting and Reporting System (NFCMARS) is Canada’s forest carbon reporting system. Its purpose is to estimate forest carbon stocks, changes in carbon stocks, and emissions of non-CO2 greenhouse gases in Canada’s managed forests.
NFCMARS is designed to:
- estimate past changes in forest carbon stocks, such as from 1990 to the present (monitoring)
- predict changes in carbon stocks, based on scenarios of future disturbance rates and management actions, in the next 2 to 3 decades (projection)
The system integrates information into a modelling framework incorporating the best available scientific understanding of the ecological processes involved in forest carbon cycling. Information includes:
- forest inventories
- temporary and permanent sample plots
- statistics on fires, insects and forest management activities
- systems quantifying forest growth and yield
- harvested wood product (HWP) production and trade
Text version
Diagram of the National Forest Carbon Monitoring, Accounting and Reporting System (NFCMARS) showing input elements to the Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector (CBM-CFS3). Results from the ensuing database are exported for use in the NFCMARS-Harvested Wood Products (HWP) model.
Inputs to the CBM-CFS3 include:
- Disturbance events
- Harvesting
- Deforestation
- Afforestation
- Natural disturbances
- Growth and yield curves
- Land-use changes
- Detailed forest inventory
Key elements of the NFCMARS include:
- Carbon budget model of the Canadian Forest Sector (CBM-CFS3)
- The Abstract Network Simulation Engine (ANSE) and NFCMARS-HWP model
- Forest management and disturbance monitoring
- Forest inventory
- NFCMARS spatial framework
- NFCMARS outputs
- NFCMARS partners
- Inventory and land-use change
- Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis
Find out more
Canadian Forest Service Publications
- Improving Canada's forest carbon estimates (2023)
- How does Canada report on forest GHG emissions (2020)
- An inventory-based analysis of Canada’s managed forest carbon dynamics, 1990 to 2008. (2011)
- Developing Canada’s national forest carbon monitoring, accounting and reporting system to meet the reporting requirements of the Kyoto protocol (2006)
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