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 will take decades for seedlings to store carbon at their full potential.
Key excerpts:
- “We find that the maximum potential of NCS—when constrained by food security, fiber security, and biodiversity conservation—is 23.8 petagrams of CO2equivalent (PgCO2e) y−1 (95% CI 20.3–37.4).”
- “Natural climate solutions can provide 37% of cost-effective CO2 mitigation needed through 2030 for a >66% chance of holding warming to below 2 °C.”
