Analysis of Carbon Hotspots in Nature reserves in Flanders and Limiting Carbon Leakage by Nature Management (HOTSPOTS) (EVINBO)

The Hotspots project consists of two parts:

Part 1 'Analysis of existing carbon hotspots in ANB domains' starts on 1 January 2019 and runs until 30 June 2019. The aim is to find out where the carbon hotspots are located, what the main threats are and how they can be sustainably protected. An improvement of an existing spatial carbon model for carbon stocks in the upper 30 cm (Soil Organic Carbon Stock Map for Belgium) will be implemented using a combination of spatial data science and machine learning techniques, and based on existing geo-datasets and models of the applicants that have been collected within the framework of completed and ongoing research projects. This should lead to the creation of hotspots signal maps.

Part 2 'Guidelines for stopping carbon leakage during management activities' runs from 1 November 2018 to 30 April 2019 and consists of a desktop study that lists existing management measures and evaluates their impact on soil carbon stocks. Next, the management plans of 5 selected areas will be screened and the impact of each management intervention on the soil carbon stock will be estimated. The results obtained from the collected literature are brought together in an application-oriented assessment framework for managers.