Mapping forest-based natural climate solutions
A spatial framework identifies 13 M ha of coastal temperate rainforest suitable for natural climate solutions, holding major global carbon stocks. Improved forest management could cut emissions by 9.1 Mt CO₂e annually. Achieving this potential will require coordinated action with communities, industry, governments, and Indigenous peoples.
Subject Tags
- Natural climate solutions
- Ecosystem management
- Forest
Abstract
Natural climate solutions are critical actions of ecosystem stewardship to mitigate climate change. However, prioritizing locations and possible actions is challenging. We demonstrate a generalizable approach for identifying potential opportunities for natural climate solutions by creating a spatial hierarchy of land management restrictions. Global forest carbon stocks and flux models were then used to explore forest-based natural climate solutions in the high-carbon density coastal temperate rainforests of western North America. Our results show 13 million hectares are available for action, an area that holds 4,900 ± 640 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent and represents 45% of regional and 0.5% of global aboveground forest carbon stocks. Based on historical trends, a 10% reduction in average annual forest carbon loss through improved forest management and conservation could reduce forest carbon emissions by 9.1 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, corresponding to 5.2% of the 2030 land-based climate commitments made by the United States and Canada. Large-scale implementation of natural climate solutions will require collaborative planning with forest-dependent communities, industry, governments, and Indigenous peoples.
Citation
Shanley, C.S., Graves, R.A., Drever, C.R., Schindel, M., Robertson, J.C., Case, M.J. and Biswas, T., 2024. Mapping forest-based natural climate solutions. Communications Earth & Environment, 5(1), p.502. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01678-z
TNC Authors
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Rose A. Graves
Conservation and Climate Scientist, Oregon
The Nature Conservancy
Email: rose.graves@tnc.org -
James C. Robertson
Conservation Geographer, Washington
Email: jrobertson@tnc.org -
Michael Schindel
Information Management Director, Oregon
The Nature Conservancy
Email: mschindel@tnc.org -
Colin S. Shanley
The Nature Conservancy