The main goal of the thesis is to develop a monitoring instrument for climate policy that is based on the Kyoto Protocol and the IPCC guidelines. The instrument developed is based on a "Full Carbon Accounting" approach which takes into account the carbon flows of the biosphere as well as those related to society's metabolism. Conceptually the analysis is based on the epistemological concept of society nature interaction comprising society's metabolism and colonisation of nature as main starting points. This leads to the empirical concept of material flow analysis. The thesis quantifies the carbon flows and the related uncertainties of the Austrian economy for 1990 for selected areas in a consistent way. The thesis also tries to build up a framework for system of indicators that would allow evaluating climate policy. (author´s abstract)

O Protocolo de Quioto estabeleceu, entre outras ferramentas, o mecanismo de desenvolvimento limpo (MDL) que permite a atuação dos países em desenvolvimento, tais como China, Índia e Brasil, uma participação relevante no chamado mercado de carbono. Essa participação consiste no desenvolvimento de projetos para redução da emissão de Gases de Efeito Estufa (GEE) que objetivam contribuir com o cumprimento da meta de redução das emissões estabelecida para os países industrializados, bem como promover o desenvolvimento sustentável nos países anfitriões, que sediam os projetos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar atividade de projetos de MDL, buscando identificar suas contribuições para o desenvolvimento sustentável. Para atingir este objetivo, foram identificados os principais modelos de avaliação das contribuições de atividades de MDL para o desenvolvimento sustentável, após escolhido um modelo para a avaliação dos projetos de MDL brasileiros, foi realizado um estudo de caso múltiplo com quatro projetos de MDL de diferentes tipos de atividade. Conclui-se, com base nos casos analisados, que os projetos apresentam contribuições para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável do país, mas, na maioria dos casos, o MDL não foi o principal motivador, portanto, é muito provável que as atividades fossem realizadas mesmo sem o apoio financeiro obtido através do MDL. / The Kyoto Protocol established, among other devices, the clean development mechanism (CDM), which provides developing countries such as China, India and Brazil with a material interest in the so-called carbon market. This involves the development of projects aimed at reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) that contribute towards achieving the emissions reduction target established for the industrialized countries as well as promoting sustainable development in the host countries hosting the projects. The objective of this study was to analyze the activity of CDM projects in order to identify the contributions they provide towards sustainable development. To achieve this goal, the main models for assessing the contributions of CDM activities towards sustainable development were identified. After choosing a model to be used in assessing CDM projects in Brazil, a multiple case study was carried out with four CDM projects engaged in different types of activity. Based on the analyzed cases, it was concluded the projects provide contributions towards the sustainable development of the country, though in most cases, the CDM was not the main motivator. Therefore, it is very likely that the activities would have been developed out even without the financial support obtained through the CDM.

O Protocolo de Quioto estabeleceu, entre outras ferramentas, o mecanismo de desenvolvimento limpo (MDL) que permite a atuação dos países em desenvolvimento, tais como China, Índia e Brasil, uma participação relevante no chamado mercado de carbono. Essa participação consiste no desenvolvimento de projetos para redução da emissão de Gases de Efeito Estufa (GEE) que objetivam contribuir com o cumprimento da meta de redução das emissões estabelecida para os países industrializados, bem como promover o desenvolvimento sustentável nos países anfitriões, que sediam os projetos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar atividade de projetos de MDL, buscando identificar suas contribuições para o desenvolvimento sustentável. Para atingir este objetivo, foram identificados os principais modelos de avaliação das contribuições de atividades de MDL para o desenvolvimento sustentável, após escolhido um modelo para a avaliação dos projetos de MDL brasileiros, foi realizado um estudo de caso múltiplo com quatro projetos de MDL de diferentes tipos de atividade. Conclui-se, com base nos casos analisados, que os projetos apresentam contribuições para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável do país, mas, na maioria dos casos, o MDL não foi o principal motivador, portanto, é muito provável que as atividades fossem realizadas mesmo sem o apoio financeiro obtido através do MDL. / The Kyoto Protocol established, among other devices, the clean development mechanism (CDM), which provides developing countries such as China, India and Brazil with a material interest in the so-called carbon market. This involves the development of projects aimed at reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) that contribute towards achieving the emissions reduction target established for the industrialized countries as well as promoting sustainable development in the host countries hosting the projects. The objective of this study was to analyze the activity of CDM projects in order to identify the contributions they provide towards sustainable development. To achieve this goal, the main models for assessing the contributions of CDM activities towards sustainable development were identified. After choosing a model to be used in assessing CDM projects in Brazil, a multiple case study was carried out with four CDM projects engaged in different types of activity. Based on the analyzed cases, it was concluded the projects provide contributions towards the sustainable development of the country, though in most cases, the CDM was not the main motivator. Therefore, it is very likely that the activities would have been developed out even without the financial support obtained through the CDM.

O Protocolo de Quioto estabeleceu, entre outras ferramentas, o mecanismo de desenvolvimento limpo (MDL) que permite a atuação dos países em desenvolvimento, tais como China, Índia e Brasil, uma participação relevante no chamado mercado de carbono. Essa participação consiste no desenvolvimento de projetos para redução da emissão de Gases de Efeito Estufa (GEE) que objetivam contribuir com o cumprimento da meta de redução das emissões estabelecida para os países industrializados, bem como promover o desenvolvimento sustentável nos países anfitriões, que sediam os projetos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar atividade de projetos de MDL, buscando identificar suas contribuições para o desenvolvimento sustentável. Para atingir este objetivo, foram identificados os principais modelos de avaliação das contribuições de atividades de MDL para o desenvolvimento sustentável, após escolhido um modelo para a avaliação dos projetos de MDL brasileiros, foi realizado um estudo de caso múltiplo com quatro projetos de MDL de diferentes tipos de atividade. Conclui-se, com base nos casos analisados, que os projetos apresentam contribuições para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável do país, mas, na maioria dos casos, o MDL não foi o principal motivador, portanto, é muito provável que as atividades fossem realizadas mesmo sem o apoio financeiro obtido através do MDL. / The Kyoto Protocol established, among other devices, the clean development mechanism (CDM), which provides developing countries such as China, India and Brazil with a material interest in the so-called carbon market. This involves the development of projects aimed at reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) that contribute towards achieving the emissions reduction target established for the industrialized countries as well as promoting sustainable development in the host countries hosting the projects. The objective of this study was to analyze the activity of CDM projects in order to identify the contributions they provide towards sustainable development. To achieve this goal, the main models for assessing the contributions of CDM activities towards sustainable development were identified. After choosing a model to be used in assessing CDM projects in Brazil, a multiple case study was carried out with four CDM projects engaged in different types of activity. Based on the analyzed cases, it was concluded the projects provide contributions towards the sustainable development of the country, though in most cases, the CDM was not the main motivator. Therefore, it is very likely that the activities would have been developed out even without the financial support obtained through the CDM.

A Convenção-Quadro das Nações Unidas sobre Mudanças Climáticas, que tem como objetivo final a estabilização das concentrações de gases de efeito estufa em um nível que impeça a interferência humana perigosa no sistema climático, estabeleceu o Protocolo de Kyoto. O Protocolo é um instrumento que permite aos Países do Anexo I (aqueles historicamente responsáveis pelas emissões de GEE) os meios de atingirem suas metas de redução de emissões de Carbono. Para que as metas sejam atingidas, o Protocolo instituiu mecanismos de flexibilização, dos quais destacamos o Mecanismo de Desenvolvimento Limpo (MDL). O MDL prevê financiamentos de Países do Anexo I em atividade que resultem em reduções/seqüestro de Carbono em países Não Anexo I. O primeiro projeto de MDL registrado no Comitê Executivo no mundo é o brasileiro NovaGerar, objeto deste estudo. O propósito deste trabalho é discutir o Protocolo de Kyoto, o Mecanismo de Desenvolvimento Limpo e verificar suas oportunidades a partir do projeto NovaGerar. / The United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has as final target to establish the greenhouse gases concentration on the atmosphere in one level that impedes the dangerous human interference on the climatic system. The UNFCCC established the Kyoto Protocol, one tool which allows Annex I Countries (that ones historically responsible for greenhouse gas emissions) to achieve their reduction targets. The Protocol put in place flexibility mechanisms - to help Annex I Countries to achieve their reduction targets - among them we highlight the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The CDM foresees Annex I Countries financings to activities which result in reduction/sequestration of Carbon in non Annex I Countries. The first CDM project registered in the Executive Committee was the Brazilian NovaGerar, subject of this study. The purpose of this text is to discuss the Kyoto Protocol, the Clean Development Mechanism and verify its opportunities based on NovaGerar project.

The European Union’s climate mitigation is highly dependent on member state compliance with EU climate policy. This paper therefore investigates the effect of different factors on national compliance with the EU’s emission target of a 20 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared to 1990. This target is further divided into additional ones, covering different sectors: a 21 percent reduction of greenhouse gases by 2020 compared to 2005 in the sectors covered by the Emissions Trading System (ETS), and differentiated targets for each member state under the Effort Sharing Decision (ESD) during the same period. Common operationalizations of compliance in quantitative research are associated with problems since the available data mostly concern policy output. This paper measures compliance in terms of outcome instead, by comparing the emission targets to the actual reductions made by the member states. The results indicate that compliance with the nation-specific targets in the ESD sector is mostly decided by how much a state is required to reduce their emissions. Regarding the ETS target, compliance appears somewhat likelier in member states where a larger share of citizens are members of an environmental organization, and a little more unlikely in states where the industry contributes economically with a larger share of GDP.

This diploma thesis deals with global environmental agreements and their effectiveness. Its aim is to disclose the causes of success of some agreements and, on the contrary, the motives of failure of other agreements. In the theoretical part, the specialities of the environmental problems are illustrated, followed by the introduction to the international environmental law and agreements. In the practical part, two well-known international agreements concerned with atmosphere are compared. They deal with similar problem, but they achieved very different results. The objective of step-by-step comparison of diverse aspects of both agreements is to discover what factors caused the great success of the Montreal Protocol in protecting the ozone layer and why the similarly conceived Kyoto Protocol failed in the combat against climate change. Last chapter concludes this comparison and defines key characteristics which are essential for the effectiveness of the global environmental agreements.

Les forestiers ont besoin d'outils permettant de cartographier les essences, la hauteur, la structure ou la biomasse des peuplements. Même si le lidar aéroporté (light detection and ranging, détection et télémétrie par laser) ne permet pas de mesurer l'ensemble de ces variables, il permet d'accéder aux hauteurs et à la biomasse de manière rapide, précise et surtout spatialisée sur de grandes surfaces. Cependant, les lidars aujourd'hui utilisés en forêts n'ont pas été conçus spécifiquement pour étudier la végétation, et l'ajustement de leurs caractéristiques techniques est supposé permettre d'améliorer la précision des mesures. L'objectif de cette thèse est de déterminer des configurations de capteurs lidars dédiés à l'étude de la végétation forestière, et de proposer des méthodes d'extraction de paramètres forestiers adaptés aux différentes configurations. La capacité de différentes résolutions (taille d'empreinte et échantillonnage spatial), longueurs d'onde et modes d'enregistrement du signal retour à mesurer des paramètres forestiers (hauteurs et densité d'arbres, taille des couronnes et indirectement volume et biomasse) a été évaluée. Les études ont été menées de l'échelle de l'arbre jusqu'à celle du peuplement, sur des données expérimentales ou simulées. Dans une première partie, des méthodes de traitement de données lidars aéroportés classiques (scanneur, largeur du faisceau décimétrique, 5 mesures/m², laser proche infrarouge) ont été développées pour estimation la biomasse d'arbres individuels. Dans cette étude, l'apport de nouvelles données dites "full-waveform" (enregistrement du signal complet) a été démontré par rapport aux traditionnelles données multiéchos (extraction des échos les plus significatifs). Dans une seconde partie, une expérimentation avec un prototype lidar du Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (CEA) embarqué sur un ULM a été réalisée (profileur, largeur de faisceau de 2,4 m, espacement de 2,4 m entre deux mesures successives le long de la ligne de vol, laser ultraviolet). Sans permettre des mesures d'arbres individuels, cette configuration de capteur a permis d'étudier les variations de la structure des arbres à l'intérieur d'une placette forestière (30 m de diamètre). En validant l'utilisation d'un laser ultraviolet pour l'étude de la végétation, les résultats de cette expérience permettent d'envisager le développement de capteurs bifonctions atmosphère/végétation. Dans une troisième partie, des signaux lidars à larges empreintes (plusieurs dizaines de mètres au sol) ont été simulés par agrégation de signaux lidars aéroportés classiques. Une méthode de modélisation permettant d'étudier la dynamique supposée d'un signal lidar satellitaire dans différents types de forêts a été proposée. Elle apporte des informations utiles à la calibration de l'énergie à émettre pour une future mission satellitaire dédiée à la cartographie de forêts. Le principal problème avec les données à larges d'empreintes est la forte influence de la topographie sur la précision des mesures de hauteurs d'arbres en zones pentues. En conséquence, une méthode de correction de cet effet a été élaborée, permettant ainsi de mesurer les hauteurs d'arbres avec une précision jusqu'alors inenvisageable. Cette méthode a de plus ouvert de nouvelles perspectives dans l'estimation de la topographie sous la forêt, à partir de données lidars à larges empreintes. / Foresters need tools to map the tree species, tree heights, stand structure and biomass. Although the airborne lidar (Light detection and ranging) technology does not give access to all these variables, it can provide quick, accurate and spatially explicit measurements of tree heights and biomass over large surfaces. However, lidar systems currently used have not been specially designed to performed vegetation studies. The adjustment of the technical characteristics of such systems is expected to improve the accuracy of retrieved forest parameters. Consequently, the objective of this thesis is to determine configurations of lidar sensors dedicated to the study of forest vegetation, and to propose methods designed to extract forest parameters depending on the different configurations. The ability of different resolutions (footprint size and spatial sampling), wavelengths and sampling modes of the backscattered signal to measure forest parameters (canopy height and density, crown size and also volume and biomass) was evaluated. The studies were conducted from tree to stand level, on experimental or simulated data. In a first part, we developed methods to process classic airborne lidar data (scanner system, tens of centimeter footprint, 5 measurements/m², near-infrared laser) for the estimation of the biomass of individual trees. In this study, we demonstrated the contribution of new data called "Full-waveform" (recording the entire signal) compared to traditional multi-echoes data (extraction of the most significant echoes). In a second part, we performed an experiment using a Comissariat of Energy Atomique (CEA)'s lidar prototype onboard an ultra-light aircraft (profiler system, 2.4 m footprint, 2.4 m spacing between two measurements along the flight line, ultraviolet laser). Such a configuration did not allow to measure individual trees, but we were able to study variations in forest structure at the plot level (30 m diameter). Having demonstrated the ability of an ultraviolet lidar to perform vegetation studies, this sensor opens the way to the development of bi-functional lidar for both atmosphere and vegetation remote sensing. In a third part, large footprint lidar signals (tens of meters on the ground) were simulated from the aggregation of classical airborne lidar signals. We proposed a method for modeling the signal dynamics of satellite lidars in different forest types, in order to calibrate the energy to emit for a future space-borne mission. The main problem with large-footprint size is the strong influence of topography on accurate measurements of tree heights in steep areas. We consequently developed a method to correct this effect, thus increasing the accuracy of tree height retrieval. This approach also opened new perspectives in topography assessment from large-footprint data in forest environments.

This thesis evaluates why the implementation of a tree plantation project in Chiapas, Mexico, called Scolel Te failed in its attempt to participate in the CDMs scheme. The Scolel Te project brings together farmers and local organisations into a network of exchange of resources that aims at producing an outcome that is only possible through the co-ordination and co-operation of all participants: the emission of carbon certificates. This thesis studies the co-ordination problems that local actors face at the moment of establishing the carbon projects by identifying how formal and informal mechanisms such as contracts, economic incentives, trust, and reputation, create or solve co-ordination problems in the Scolel Te network. The thesis also describes how changes in the distribution of power among actors affect the functioning of the network and how individual's interests and strategic alliances have the potential of derailing the aims of the environmental project. For such purposes, this thesis analyses the exchange relationships among actors at the micro level and identifies how exchange relationships evolve over time. Then an overall picture of the exchange relationships is presented (macro level) with focus in understanding how and why power in the network is exerted. Findings suggest that relying on economic incentives as the main mechanism to generate commitment among communities has failed to create stable exchange relationships in the long term. Trust and reputation are stronger mechanisms to achieve commitment. Moreover, we find that the ability to generate commitment depends highly on the generation of interdependencies between tree plantation projects and the main economic activities of local actors. However, type of land tenure, main economic activity, and pre-existing power relationships embedded at local level are also the principal factors that determine the dynamism of the social exchange relationships and commitment in the long-run. This thesis considers that co-ordination failure occurs because a lack of knowledge about the real dependencies between local actors and their natural resources in the design of CDMs. At macro level, this thesis found that the lack of accountability of the unregulated local carbon market at local level has created unintended incentives for actors to adopt less environmentally responsible strategies and disincentive participation in the CDMs.

This master thesis seeks to explain the approach and position of developing countries in international politics on climate change, focused on specific groups of developing countries within the Group 77. First chapter explain the roots and development of climate change politics, together with the need to combat the climate change. Second chapter lays down the theoretical principles of attributing commitments to developing countries and analysis the position of different groups of developing countries. The last chapter is devoted to the case study of China's stance to international climate change regime and factors that influence its position.