[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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