Publication Date:
2024-03-19
Description:
Forests are a substantial terrestrial carbon sink, but anthropogenic changes in land
\nuse and climate have considerably reduced the scale of this system1
\n. Remote-sensing
\nestimates to quantify carbon losses from global forests2\xe2\x80\x935
\n are characterized by
\nconsiderable uncertainty and we lack a comprehensive ground-sourced evaluation to
\nbenchmark these estimates. Here we combine several ground-sourced6
\n and satellitederived approaches2,7,8
\n to evaluate the scale of the global forest carbon potential
\noutside agricultural and urban lands. Despite regional variation, the predictions
\ndemonstrated remarkable consistency at a global scale, with only a 12% diference
\nbetween the ground-sourced and satellite-derived estimates. At present, global forest
\ncarbon storage is markedly under the natural potential, with a total defcit of 226\xe2\x80\x89Gt
\n(model range\xe2\x80\x89=\xe2\x80\x89151\xe2\x80\x93363\xe2\x80\x89Gt) in areas with low human footprint. Most (61%, 139\xe2\x80\x89Gt\xe2\x80\x89C)
\nof this potential is in areas with existing forests, in which ecosystem protection can
\nallow forests to recover to maturity. The remaining 39% (87\xe2\x80\x89Gt\xe2\x80\x89C) of potential lies in
\nregions in which forests have been removed or fragmented. Although forests cannot
\nbe a substitute for emissions reductions, our results support the idea2,3,9
\n that the
\nconservation, restoration and sustainable management of diverse forests ofer
\nvaluable contributions to meeting global climate and biodiversity targets.
Keywords:
Multidisciplinary
Repository Name:
National Museum of Natural History, Netherlands
Type:
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Format:
application/pdf
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