DataSheet1_Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Carbon Sinks of an Italian Natural Park.docx

Natural parks (NPs) have a primary role in supporting people’s welfare by maintaining natural and cultural resources. Various activities, such as those related to conservation of flora and fauna, forestry, agriculture and livestock, residential, and tourism, coexist within the boundaries of NPs. All these activities may contribute as a source or sink of carbon dioxide and, despite some NPs having started to promote their environmental services, there is currently a lack of information on their carbon footprint (CF). Although various international standards have provided guidelines to assess the CF of organizations, a lack of explicit formulation and procedure in these standards makes them difficult to apply, especially when the organizations to be evaluated embed a wide range of biological and anthropogenic activities. The framework proposed in this paper provides for the first time a holistic methodological approach to quantitatively and qualitatively estimate the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals occurring in NPs. The main data needed for the NP’s GHG inventory were directly collected on-site. The activity data and emissions factors as well as the methodologies involved were all referenced to their data sources, including the use of a biogeochemical model, IPCC equations, Ecoinvent database, and a literature review. This method highlighted that, by emitting 0.55 Mg CO2e ha−1 year−1, the NP generates an annual CF of about 3,300 Mg of CO2e. The agricultural activities with 43.4% of share showed the largest incidence, followed by wild fauna (17.8%), tourism (15.1%), and, to a lesser extent, all the other sectors considered in the assessment. On the other hand, when the annual soil and forest C sequestration rates were included in the balance, the NP contributes to sequester about 3.7 Mg CO2e ha−1 year−1, thus resulting in it being an important C-sink site (i.e., about 22,000 Mg CO2e year−1). By providing granular information on GHG emissions and carbon removals trend, the methodological approach involved in this study could help NPs in both planning effective mitigation strategies and supporting environmental certification processes. CF of NPs could increase tourists’ awareness of the important role that these protected natural areas have in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

自然公园（Natural Parks，NPs）通过保护自然与文化资源，在助力民众福祉方面发挥核心作用。园内共存着多种活动，涵盖动植物保护、林业、农牧业、居住活动及旅游业等领域。上述各类活动均可成为二氧化碳的排放源或汇；尽管部分自然公园已着手推广其环境服务，但目前仍缺乏关于其碳足迹（Carbon Footprint，CF）的相关数据。尽管多项国际标准已为组织碳足迹评估提供了指导框架，但此类标准缺乏明确的量化方法与操作流程，导致其难以落地应用，尤其当评估对象涵盖大量生物与人为活动时，该问题更为突出。本文提出的研究框架首次提供了一套系统性方法论，可从定量与定性两个维度评估自然公园内的年度温室气体（Greenhouse Gas，GHG）排放与移除量。自然公园温室气体清单所需的核心数据均通过现场调研直接获取。研究所涉及的活动数据、排放因子及评估方法均标注了数据来源，具体包括生物地球化学模型、政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）规程、Ecoinvent数据库以及文献综述结果。该评估方法结果显示，自然公园的碳排放强度约为0.55兆克二氧化碳当量/公顷/年，年度总碳足迹约为3300兆克二氧化碳当量。其中农牧业活动占比最高，达43.4%，其次为野生动物保护（17.8%）、旅游业（15.1%），其余参评领域的占比相对较低。另一方面，若将年度土壤与森林碳固存速率纳入收支核算，自然公园的碳固存强度约为3.7兆克二氧化碳当量/公顷/年，年度总碳汇量约为22000兆克二氧化碳当量，使其成为重要的碳汇场所。本研究采用的评估方法可提供温室气体排放与碳移除趋势的精细化数据，既能帮助自然公园制定高效的气候减缓策略，也可为其环境认证流程提供支撑。对自然公园碳足迹的量化分析，还可提升游客对这类保护型自然区域在气候变化减缓与适应方面重要作用的认知。