The enduring world forest carbon sink

The uptake of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) by terrestrial ecosystems is critical for moderating climate change 1 . To provide a ground-based long-term assessment of the contribution of forests to terrestrial CO 2 uptake, we synthesized in situ forest data from boreal, temperate and tropical biomes spannin...

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Published in:Nature (London) Vol. 631; no. 8021; pp. 563 - 569
Main Authors: Pan, Yude, Birdsey, Richard A., Phillips, Oliver L., Houghton, Richard A., Fang, Jingyun, Kauppi, Pekka E., Keith, Heather, Kurz, Werner A., Ito, Akihiko, Lewis, Simon L., Nabuurs, Gert-Jan, Shvidenko, Anatoly, Hashimoto, Shoji, Lerink, Bas, Schepaschenko, Dmitry, Castanho, Andrea, Murdiyarso, Daniel
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 18.07.2024
Nature Publishing Group
Subjects:
Balance studies
Carbon dioxide
Carbon Dioxide - analysis
Carbon Dioxide - metabolism
Carbon Sequestration
Carbon sinks
Climate Change
Conservation of Natural Resources
Deforestation
Disturbances
Emissions
Environmental restoration
Environmental Sciences
Forest management
Forest Science
Forestry
Forests
Fossil Fuels
Humanities and Social Sciences
Internationality
Land management
Mass balance
Miljövetenskap
multidisciplinary
Regrowth
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Skogsvetenskap
Taiga
Terrestrial ecosystems
Trees - growth & development
Trees - metabolism
Tropical Climate
Russia
ISSN:0028-0836, 1476-4687, 1476-4687
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Summary:The uptake of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) by terrestrial ecosystems is critical for moderating climate change 1 . To provide a ground-based long-term assessment of the contribution of forests to terrestrial CO 2 uptake, we synthesized in situ forest data from boreal, temperate and tropical biomes spanning three decades. We found that the carbon sink in global forests was steady, at 3.6 ± 0.4 Pg C yr −1 in the 1990s and 2000s, and 3.5 ± 0.4 Pg C yr −1 in the 2010s. Despite this global stability, our analysis revealed some major biome-level changes. Carbon sinks have increased in temperate (+30 ± 5%) and tropical regrowth (+29 ± 8%) forests owing to increases in forest area, but they decreased in boreal (−36 ± 6%) and tropical intact (−31 ± 7%) forests, as a result of intensified disturbances and losses in intact forest area, respectively. Mass-balance studies indicate that the global land carbon sink has increased 2 , implying an increase in the non-forest-land carbon sink. The global forest sink is equivalent to almost half of fossil-fuel emissions (7.8 ± 0.4 Pg C yr −1 in 1990–2019). However, two-thirds of the benefit from the sink has been negated by tropical deforestation (2.2 ± 0.5 Pg C yr −1 in 1990–2019). Although the global forest sink has endured undiminished for three decades, despite regional variations, it could be weakened by ageing forests, continuing deforestation and further intensification of disturbance regimes 1 . To protect the carbon sink, land management policies are needed to limit deforestation, promote forest restoration and improve timber-harvesting practices 1 , 3 . Data from boreal, temperate and tropical forests over the past three decades reveal that the global forest carbon sink has remained steady during that time, despite considerable regional variation.
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ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/s41586-024-07602-x