Forest carbon accounting team

Monitoring forest ecosystem carbon stocks and carbon stock changes is a complex and data intensive process. Over the past decades, the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) has relied on the Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector (CBM-CFS3), a research tool developed by Dr. Mike Apps (retired) and Dr. Werner Kurz. The CBM-CFS3 simulates past, present and future carbon dynamics at national, provincial, and operational scales within Canada.

Both scientists have had leading roles on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and have contributed to:

• the IPCC Special Report on Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry
• the IPCC Good Practice Guidance for Land use, Land-use Change and Forestry
• the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
• several IPCC Assessment Reports

Through his ongoing involvement with the IPCC, Dr. Kurz is continuing to ensure that the CBM-CFS3 model and new Generic Carbon Budget Model, remains compliant with international accounting and reporting guidelines. Ongoing work on these scientific models by the CFS forest carbon accounting team on these scientific models ensures that each model incorporates the best available science on forest ecosystem carbon dynamics.