Integrated global assessment of the natural forest carbon potential
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2023-12-07
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Journal Article
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Abstract
Forests are a substantial terrestrial carbon sink, but anthropogenic changes in land use and climate have considerably reduced the scale of this system 1. Remote-sensing estimates to quantify carbon losses from global forests 2–5 are characterized by considerable uncertainty and we lack a comprehensive ground-sourced evaluation to benchmark these estimates. Here we combine several ground-sourced 6 and satellite-derived approaches 2,7,8 to evaluate the scale of the global forest carbon potential outside agricultural and urban lands. Despite regional variation, the predictions demonstrated remarkable consistency at a global scale, with only a 12% difference between the ground-sourced and satellite-derived estimates. At present, global forest carbon storage is markedly under the natural potential, with a total deficit of 226 Gt (model range = 151–363 Gt) in areas with low human footprint. Most (61%, 139 Gt C) of this potential is in areas with existing forests, in which ecosystem protection can allow forests to recover to maturity. The remaining 39% (87 Gt C) of potential lies in regions in which forests have been removed or fragmented. Although forests cannot be a substitute for emissions reductions, our results support the idea 2,3,9 that the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of diverse forests offer valuable contributions to meeting global climate and biodiversity targets.
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published
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624 (7990)
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92 - 101
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09625 - Crowther, Thomas Ward (ehemalig) / Crowther, Thomas Ward (former)
09625 - Crowther, Thomas Ward (ehemalig) / Crowther, Thomas Ward (former)
09625 - Crowther, Thomas Ward (ehemalig) / Crowther, Thomas Ward (former)
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Funding
193646 - Forest growth and carbon balance in a warming world: Predicting the growing season lengths of temperate forests (SNF)