Preamble

The sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that the sector “Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU)” was responsible for an average of 13-21% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions globally between 2010 and 2019.

The notes that the LULUCF sector offers significant mitigation potential in the near future while also providing food, wood, and other renewable resources, as well as conserving biodiversity. Mitigation measures in forests and other natural ecosystems account for the majority of the LULUCF mitigation potential between 2020 and 2050.

The 2015 Paris Agreement requires in Article 5 that carbon stocks in forests be maintained or increased. This explicitly recognises forest carbon sequestration as a measure to reduce CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. Under this premise, climate protection projects in forests make a highly valuable contribution to achieving the climate goal set in Paris of limiting global warming to a maximum of 1.5°C by 2100.