National inventory in the framework of the UNFCCC/Kyoto Protocol as a tool for planning mitigation measures to be included in rural development strategies in Italy

Abstract

As part of national and international commitments, Parties have to communicate annually to the secretariat of the UNFCCC the National greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of GHG not controlled by the Montreal Protocol. Methodologies used for the preparation of the Italian GHG inventory follows the IPCC Guidelines for National GHG Inventories as requested by the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. Between 1990 and 2009 total GHG emissions have decreased by 5.4%. The trend 1990-2009 for the agricultural sector shows a decrease of 15.1%, while the LULUCF is responsible for 94.7 Mt of CO2 removals from the atmosphere in 2009. From 1990 to 2009, total removals in CO2 equivalent increase by 53.2%. Future trends indicate a reduction of agricultural GHG emissions of 4% by 2020 respect to 2009, and an increase of removals of 13% for the LULUCF sector. The role of agriculture in climate change mitigation has been emphasised in the last years, and the Health Check reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will probably have a relevant contribution. The National GHG inventory may be seen as a useful tool to plan and verify mitigation measures to be included in rural development strategies. Monitoring and evaluation of the different actions under the RDPs will be fundamental to assess the contribution of climate change mitigation measures into the trend scenario