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Integrated global assessment of the natural forest carbon potential.

Lidong MoConstantin M ZohnerPeter B ReichJingjing LiangSergio de-MiguelGert-Jan NabuursSusanne S RennerJohan van den HoogenArnan ArazaMartin HeroldLeila MirzagholiHaozhi MaColin AverillOliver L PhillipsJavier G P GamarraIris HordijkDevin RouthMeinrad AbeggYves C Adou YaoGiorgio AlbertiAngelica M Almeyda ZambranoBraulio Vilchez AlvaradoEsteban Alvarez-DávilaPatricia Alvarez-LoayzaLuciana F AlvesIêda AmaralChristian AmmerClara Antón-FernándezAlejandro Araujo-MurakamiLuzmila ArroyoValerio AvitabileGerardo A Aymard CorredorTimothy R BakerRadomir BałazyOlaf S BánkiJorcely G BarrosoMeredith L BastianJean-François BastinLuca BirigazziPhilippe BirnbaumRobert BitarihoPascal BoeckxFrans BongersOlivier BouriaudPedro Henrique Santin BrancalionSusanne BrandlFrancis Q BrearleyRoel J W BrienenEben N BroadbentHelge BruelheideFilippo BussottiRoberto Cazzolla GattiRicardo G CésarGoran CesljarRobin L ChazdonHan Y H ChenChelsea ChisholmHyunkook ChoEmil CiencialaConnie ClarkDavid ClarkGabriel D CollettaDavid Anthony CoomesFernando Cornejo ValverdeJosé J Corral-RivasPhilip M CrimJonathan R CummingSelvadurai DayanandanAndre Luis de GasperMathieu DecuyperGéraldine DerroireBen DeVriesIlija DjordjevicJiří DoležalAurélie DourdainNestor Laurier Engone ObiangBrian J EnquistTeresa J EyreAdandé Belarmain FandohanTom M FayleTed R FeldpauschLeandro V FerreiraLeena FinérMarkus FischerChristine FletcherLorenzo FrizzeraDamiano GianelleHenry B GlickDavid J HarrisAndrew HectorAndreas HempGeerten M HengeveldBruno HéraultJohn L HerbohnAnnika HillersEuridice N Honorio CoronadoCang HuiThomas IbanezNobuo ImaiAndrzej M JagodzińskiBogdan JaroszewiczVivian Kvist JohannsenCarlos Alfredo JolyTommaso JuckerIlbin JungViktor KarminovKuswata KartawinataElizabeth KearsleyDavid KenfackDeborah K KennardSebastian Kepfer-RojasGunnar KeppelMohammed Latif KhanTimothy J KilleenHyun Seok KimKanehiro KitayamaMichael KöhlHenn KorjusFlorian KraxnerDmitry KucherDiana LaarmannMait LangHuicui LuNatalia V LukinaBrian Salvin MaitnerYadvinder MalhiEric MarconBeatriz Schwantes MarimonBen Hur Marimon JuniorAndrew R MarshallEmanuel H MartinJorge A MeaveOmar Melo-CruzCasimiro MendozaIrina Mendoza-PoloStanislaw MiscickiCory MerowAbel Monteagudo MendozaVanessa S MorenoSharif A MukulPhilip MundhenkMaría Guadalupe Nava-MirandaDavid A NeillVictor J NeldnerRadovan V NevenicMichael R NgugiPascal Alex NiklausJacek OleksynPetr OntikovEdgar Ortiz-MalavasiYude PanAlain PaquetteAlexander Parada-GutierrezElena I ParfenovaMinjee ParkMarc ParrenNarayanaswamy ParthasarathyPablo L PeriSebastian PfautschNicolas PicardMaria Teresa Fernandez PiedadeDaniel PiottoNigel C A PitmanAxel Dalberg PoulsenJohn R PoulsenHans PretzschFreddy Ramirez ArevaloZorayda Restrepo-CorreaMirco RodeghieroSamir G RolimAnand RoopsindFrancesco RoveroErvan RutishauserPurabi SaikiaChristian Salas-EljatibPhilippe SanerPeter SchallMart-Jan SchelhaasDmitry G SchepaschenkoMichael Scherer-LorenzenBernhard SchmidJochen SchöngartEric B SearleVladimír ŠebeňJosep M Serra-DiazDouglas SheilAnatoly Z ShvidenkoJavier E Silva-EspejoMarcos SilveiraJames SinghPlinio SistFerry SlikBonaventure SonkéAlexandre F SouzaKrzysztof J StereńczakJens-Christian SvenningMiroslav SvobodaBen SwanepoelNatalia TarghettaNadja TchebakovaHans Ter SteegeRaquel ThomasElena TikhonovaPeter Mbanda UmunayVladimir A UsoltsevRenato ValenciaFernando ValladaresFons van der PlasTran Van DoMichael E van NulandRodolfo M VasquezHans VerbeeckHelder VianaAlexander C VibransSimone Aparecida VieiraKlaus von GadowHua-Feng WangJames V WatsonGijsbert D A WernerSusan K WiserFlorian WittmannHannsjoerg WoellVerginia WortelRoderik ZagtTomasz Zawiła-NiedźwieckiChunyu ZhangXiuhai ZhaoMo ZhouZhi-Xin ZhuIrié Casimir Zo-BiGeorge D GannThomas W Crowther
Published in: Nature (2023)
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.
Keyphrases
  • climate change
  • human health
  • endothelial cells
  • risk assessment