The second phase of a three-year project on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory of the entire production chain of industrial tree plantation (ITP) in Mindanao is underway, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD) said Thursday, Nov. 4.

The DOST-PCAARRD said the Phase 2 of its funded project sought to gather basic information to calculate the emission incurred during the ITP production activities and come up with measures to reduce GHG emissions from the ITP sector.

The project is implemented by the University of the Philippines Los Banos–College of Forestry and Natural Resources (UPLB-CFNR), led by Dr. Diomedes Racelis and is funded by the PCAARRD as part of its support to the Industry Strategic S&T Program (ISP) on ITP and Climate Change.

The initiative was aimed at promoting sustainable forest management and mitigating the impacts of climate change.

Racelis said the project team intends to identify various activities along the ITP production chain where GHG fluxes occur.

This includes calculating the respective GHG emissions from various activities along the ITP production chain and computing the GHGs net fluxes, he said.

The PCAARRD noted that during the first phase of the project, Racelis' team recorded data related to GHG emissions within the process flow of the products such as activity data and emission factors.

“Field interviews were conducted and respondents from Caraga region provided useful insights to determine the volume of harvested logs transported to sawmill and converted to veneer and lumber,” it said.

“However, since this was only a one-year project, a limited number of respondents and areas covered were considered.”

The project team also collected other data through surveys for the direct inputs and emissions in collaboration with falcata-based wood industry from harvesting operation, transport operation and primary wood processing (veneer and lumber).

“The fuel (liter) and electricity consumption values (kWh) in each operation were calculated by measuring the volume of fuel consumed along the process,” the PCAARRD said.

“Further data processing to calculate GHG emissions from primary wood processing and carbon stored in durable wood products were also conducted,” it added.