Climate mitigation potential

Goldstein, A., Turner, W.R., Spawn, S.A., et al., 2020. Protecting irrecoverable carbon in Earth’s ecosystems. Nature Climate Change.

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Link: Download PDF here: PDF Summary: The authors estimate the amount of irrecoverable carbon that will be emitted into the atmosphere if ecosystems with high carbon densities are logged or lost to development pressure. Irrecoverable carbon is the not recoverable on timescales relevant to avoiding dangerous climate impacts. Key excerpts: “These three dimensions allow us to … Read more

Boutte, P.C., Law, B.E., Ripple, W.J., Berner, L.T., 2019. Carbon sequestration and biodiversity co-benefits of preserving forests in the western United States. Ecological Applications e02039.

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Link: DOI: 10.1002/eap.2039 Summary: The authors use process models and ecological criteria to provide estimates of how much carbon high productivity-low vulnerability forests in the western United States can capture and store by century’s end. These forests are concentrated in the Pacific Northwest. Vulnerability was modeled with respect to fire and drought. Key excerpts: “High-productivity, … Read more

Grissom B.W., et al., 2017. Natural climate solutions. PNAS October 31, 2017 114 (44) 11645-11650.

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Link: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1710465114 Summary: Reversing the degradation of natural forests can accomplish more than one third of the total climate change mitigation required by 2030. Existing forests will store more carbon only if logged less frequently and less intensely. Planting trees offers the biggest and cheapest way to slow the climate crisis. We must act quickly. It … Read more

Houghton, R.A., Nassikas, A.A., 2017. Negative emissions from stopping deforestation and forest degradation, globally. Global Change Biology 24(1)

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Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13876 Summary: Avoiding further loss and degradation of primary forests and intact forest landscapes, and allowing degraded forests to naturally regrow, would reduce global carbon emissions annually by about one gigatonne or 1 Gt, and reduce another two to four Gt of carbon emissions through just allowing natural regrowth. If greater negative emissions are … Read more

Moomaw WR, Masino SA and Faison EK (2019). Intact forests in the United States: Proforestation mitigates climate change and serves the greatest good. Front. For. Glob. Change 2:27

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Link: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2019.00027/full Summary: Letting forests grow towards their natural capacity to store carbon is one of the most cost effective climate solutions that also generates a wide array of co-benefits in the form of valuable ecosystem services. Key excerpts: “Proforestation is a climate smart strategy that involves letting existing forests grow to their ecological potential in … Read more