Assessment of compliance with the LULUCF criteria at the forest sourcing area level
Article 6
Where evidence of compliance with the LULUCF criteria at national level is not available, Member States shall require economic operators to provide audited information confirming the existence and implementation of management systems at the level of the forest sourcing area, to ensure that carbon stocks and sinks levels in the forest are maintained or strengthened over the long-term. To that end, economic operators shall provide accurate, up-to-date and verifiable evidence in accordance with the following requirements: (a) identify the spatial boundaries of the sourcing area for which compliance needs to be demonstrated, for instance by means of geographical coordinates, plots or parcels, including stands and tracts of land, and identify the relevant forest carbon pools, including aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, litter, deadwood and soil organic carbon; (b) calculate the average forest carbon stocks and sinks over a historical reference period with the purpose of establishing a benchmark for the comparison of maintenance or strengthening of forest carbon stocks and sinks of a sourcing area. Economic operators shall use the reference period of 2000-2009, or another period of similar length and as close as possible to 2000-2009, to facilitate the use of forest inventory data or to mitigate the impacts of natural disturbances or other extreme events. The economic operators shall duly justify the choice of their reference period. The economic operator shall estimate reference values for all relevant carbon pools individually identified pursuant to point (a); (c) describe the scenario of the expected forest management practices in a sourcing area for a projected long-term period covering at least 30 years after the harvesting event from which biomass is sourced. That scenario shall be constructed on the basis of the forest management practices in a sourcing area documented for the historical reference period, or on existing forest management plans or other verifiable evidence; (d) estimate the average carbon stocks and sinks of the sourcing area over the projected long-term period, covering at least 30 years depending on the forest growth rate, after the harvesting of the forest biomass. In order to ensure comparability with the historical reference period, those estimates shall use the same carbon pools, data and methods referred to in points (a) and (b). Where economic operators are not able to quantify one or more of the pools identified pursuant to point (a), they shall provide due justification; (e) compare the average carbon stock and sinks in the relevant forest sourcing area of the projected long-term period with the forest carbon stocks and sinks of the historical reference period. If the average forest carbon stocks and sinks of the projected long-term period are equal to or higher than the average forest carbon stocks and sinks of the historical reference period, the forest biomass is in compliance with the LULUCF criteria at the forest sourcing area level. Economic operators shall put in place adequate monitoring and verification systems of the actual development of carbon stock and sinks in demonstrated compliance with the requirements set out in this Article.