As a major step in meeting the objectives of the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in December 1997.
Canada and other Parties have held the view from the beginning of the Kyoto negotiations that no limit should be placed on anthropogenic sinks. The exclusion of sinks would have removed much of the incentive to undertake their protection and enhancement. After long and thorny negotiations, the compromise was an agreement to include some land use change and forestry activities, undertaken after 1990, that affect sinks, namely reforestation, afforestation, deforestation (RAD).
By limiting the actions humans can take to enhance sinks to afforestation and reforestation undertaken after 1990, the Protocol has fundamentally changed the accounting system and the way in which we look at forests and land-use changes. It has produced a new forest, the so called “Kyoto Forest".
Agricultural soil sinks are not currently included in the Kyoto Protocol. However, Article 3.4 allows for negotiations on which and how additional sinks activities (other than reforestation, afforestation and deforestation), including agricultural soils, can be used to meet commitments.
