improve language & docs

index.rst

@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ Lastly, we shall walk through what the future holds for the world we live in, wh
 .. toctree::
    :hidden:
 
-   Chapter1/index
+   understanding-climate-science-carbon-models/index
    Chapter2/index
    Chapter3/index
    Chapter4/index

understanding-climate-science-carbon-models/index.rst

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+Chapter-1: Understanding climate science & carbon models
+==========================================================
+
+This chapter discusses climate models, and to convey their usefulness,
+we need to understand disturbances. We can recognise disturbances as
+events, such as fires, flooding, insect and pest outbreaks, etc., that
+cause short-term or temporary changes to the landscape. Although the
+changes to the landscapes can be short-termed, disturbances can have
+significant ecosystem impacts.
+
+Carbon models evaluate how artificial or natural disturbances affect our
+forests. Understanding these disturbances provides us with important
+information about the future of our landscapes and the steps to take to
+lessen their negative consequences.
+
+Pools, Stocks and flows
+-----------------------
+
+Pools are reservoirs or containers that can hold, accumulate, or
+discharge chemicals. Nature contains pools in the ocean, the
+lithosphere, soils, atmosphere, and other places. A carbon pool, for
+instance, stores and releases carbon.
+
+Stock refers to the entire amount of a substance in a pool at any time. On 
+the other hand, flows are measured in units per time and alter the
+stock in a pool.
+
+The bathtub analogy is a great way to explain these concepts. A bathtub
+holding the water can be considered a pool, the faucet and drain can be
+understood as flows, and the total water in the bathtub as stock.
+
+Simulation models, States and Transition
+-----------------------
+
+Simulation models help provide valuable insights into the dynamics of
+these landscapes. To run a simulation model, we must define the area or
+landscape we want to study at a particular time. This landscape is
+divided into small pixels to be simulated.
+
+A pixel can be classified by its state, which might change over time;
+for example, simple forest vegetation can have different states like
+Deciduous, Mixed, and Coniferous. Due to transitions, the forest
+vegetation can change to a different state over time.
+
+State transitions can be due to fire, harvest, and succession
+disturbances. These transitions impact the stocks and flows of carbon
+pools.
+
+
+.. toctree::
+   :hidden:
+
+   section_one
+   section_two

understanding-climate-science-carbon-models/section_one.rst

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+Organizations behind climate mitigation
+======================================================
+
+As the world works together to reduce the adverse effects of climate
+change, some organizations are championing the cause.
+
+What is the IPCC?
+-----------------
+
+Established in 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
+(IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations responsible
+for assessing research and preparing reports on climate change. The main
+objective of the IPCC is to assess reports and information related to
+understanding human-induced climate change, its effects, and, more
+importantly, how to mitigate these effects.
+
+Currently chaired by the Korean economist Hoesung Lee, the IPCC does not
+conduct research or partake in monitoring climate change. This body is
+largely concerned with the periodic review of resources and
+methodologies. These resources and methodologies enable countries to
+estimate their emissions and removals through sinks of greenhouse gases.
+
+Scientists extremely knowledgeable in climate science review these data
+reports and resources. The scientists that prepare the special reports
+are divided into working groups: Working Group I, Working Group II, and
+Working Group III.
+
+-  **Working Group I(WGI)**: The IPCC WGI assesses the physical science
+   supporting past, present, and future climate change. Working Group 1
+   covers topics like greenhouse gases and aerosols in the atmosphere;
+   temperature changes in the air, land, and ocean; the hydrological
+   cycle and changing precipitation (rain and snow) patterns; extreme
+   weather; glaciers and ice sheets; oceans and sea level;
+   biogeochemistry and the carbon cycle; and climate sensitivity. The
+   WGI assessments provide the global community with the resources to
+   combat climate change.
+-  **Working Group II (WGII)**: The IPCC WGII assesses the impact of climate
+   change on the environment. The WGII also assesses the human and
+   natural systems' capability to adapt our environment to climate
+   change. This assessment exposes vulnerabilities in the systems that
+   countries can improve.
+-  **Working Group III(WGIII)**: The IPCC WGII focuses on how to mitigate
+   climate change. It takes a solution-oriented approach but refrains
+   from advocating for any specific climate change mitigation approach.
+
+What is the UNFCCC?
+-------------------
+
+Established in 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
+Change, also known as UNFCCC, constitutes the foundational climate
+agreement that has provided the platform for most subsequent
+international climate agreements. Signed by 154 states, the UNFCCC
+created an international treaty to mitigate the effects of "dangerous
+human interference with the climate system" by stabilizing the
+greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.
+
+The UNFCC uses the framework agreement to develop treaties. This
+framework agreement begins with the parties signed to UNFCCC
+acknowledging a problem and committing to take action without taking
+concrete obligations.
+
+To help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the UNFCCC implemented the
+Kyoto Protocol, which acknowledges that global warming is occurring and
+artificial. The UNFCCC implemented the Kyoto protocol to achieve the
+UNFCCC's objective of reducing the effect of global warming by reducing
+greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.
+
+The Kyoto Protocol applies to seven greenhouse gases. These greenhouse
+gases are carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O),
+hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride
+(SF6), nitrogen trifluoride (NF3).
+
+The different parties or countries signed to UNFCCC take on varying
+commitments according to the countries' capabilities. The parties to the
+UNFCC are classified as follows: - Annex I: This class has 43 countries
+or parties. These countries are industrialized countries and "economies
+in transition". Check out this post to see the list of countries in this
+annexe.
+
+-  **Annex II**: This class consists of Organisation for Economic
+   Co-operation and Development (OCED) members, minus Turkey. Annex II
+   also consists of the European Union (EU).
+-  **Least Developed Countries**: This class consists of 49 parties. It
+   includes countries that are developing and therefore have limited
+   capacity to adapt to the effects of climate change.
+-  **Non-Annex I**: This class consists of developing countries and
+   countries of low income. These developing countries could volunteer
+   to become parties of Annex I when they have become adequately
+   developed.
+
+The UNFCC collects carbon emissions data from every country to provide
+an authoritative source of global greenhouse gas emissions. These
+reports underpin important international treaties like the Paris
+Agreement. The Paris agreement effectively negotiates between countries
+that are responsible for cutting emissions and who sequester the most
+atmospheric carbon. Broadly, we have a goal for the entire world to be
+carbon neutral by 2050 (this is referred to as ''net zero'' where
+emissions are perfectly balanced by sequestration), hopefully keeping
+global warming under a +2C increase in long-term mean temperature. If we
+fail to achieve this goal, we might end up in a +4C world which is
+catastrophic.
+
+What does land sector reporting mean?
+-------------------------------------
+
+Land sector reporting can be understood as the estimation and reporting
+of the anthropogenic sources and sinks of greenhouse gas (GHG) over land
+units subject to activities relating to land use, land use change, and
+forestry.
+
+In line with the `UNFCC reporting
+guidelines <https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2013/cop19/eng/10a03.pdf#page=2>`__,
+the greenhouse gas inventory or report should have the following
+qualities:
+
+-  **Transparency**: Transparency ensures that the data sources,
+   assumptions, and methodologies used for an inventory is clearly
+   explained.
+-  **Consistency**: Report should be internally consistent for every single
+   year reported, in all its elements across sectors, categories, and
+   gases.
+-  **Comparability**: Estimates of emissions and removals from Annex I
+   parties should be comparable to other Annex I parties. For
+   comparability to happen, Annex I parties should use the methodologies
+   and formats described and agreed upon by the `Conference of the
+   Parties
+   (COP) <https://unfccc.int/process/bodies/supreme-bodies/conference-of-the-parties-cop>`__.
+-  **Completeness**: The greenhouse gas report should cover at least all the
+   sources and sinks, and gases.
+-  **Accuracy**: The report submitted must be correct, that is, neither
+   under nor over true emissions or removals, and those uncertainties
+   are reduced as far as practicable.

understanding-climate-science-carbon-models/section_two.rst

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+Using FLINT to mitigate climate change
+=============================================================
+
+`Full Lands Integration Tool (FLINT) <https://moja.global/flint/>`__ is
+a moja global software used for measuring, reporting, verifying (MRV),
+or forecasting greenhouse gas emissions and removals from forestry,
+agriculture, and other land uses (AFOLU). With FLINT, we can use data
+from multiple sources to simulate past events and project the
+progression of a landscape.