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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
general
Natural climate solutions
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Volume 114, No. 44, Year 2017
Notification
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Description
Better stewardship of land is needed to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement goal of holding warming to below 2 °C; however, confusion persists about the specific set of land stewardship options available and their mitigation potential. To address this, we identify and quantify “natural climate solutions” (NCS): 20 conservation, restoration, and improved land management actions that increase carbon storage and/or avoid greenhouse gas emissions across global forests, wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural lands. We find that the maximum potential of NCS—when constrained by food security, fiber security, and biodiversity conservation—is 23.8 petagrams of CO2 equivalent (PgCO2e) y−1 (95% CI 20.3–37.4). This is ≥30% higher than prior estimates, which did not include the full range of options and safeguards considered here. About half of this maximum (11.3 PgCO2e y−1) represents cost-effective climate mitigation, assuming the social cost of CO2 pollution is ≥100 USD MgCO2e−1 by 2030. 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. One-third of this cost-effective NCS mitigation can be delivered at or below 10 USD MgCO2−1. Most NCS actions—if effectively implemented—also offer water filtration, flood buffering, soil health, biodiversity habitat, and enhanced climate resilience. Work remains to better constrain uncertainty of NCS mitigation estimates. Nevertheless, existing knowledge reported here provides a robust basis for immediate global action to improve ecosystem stewardship as a major solution to climate change. © 2017, National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Available Materials
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC5676916/bin/pnas.1710465114.sapp.pdf
Authors & Co-Authors
Griscom, Bronson Winthrop
United States, Arlington
Nature Conservancy
United States, Harrisonburg
James Madison University
Ellis, Peter Woods
United States, Arlington
Nature Conservancy
HOUGHTON, R. A.
United States, Falmouth
Woods Hole Research Center
Lomax, Guy
United States, Arlington
Nature Conservancy
Schlesinger, William H.
United States, Millbrook
Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Shoch, David T.
United States, Charlottesville
Terracarbon Llc
Siikamäki, Juha V.
United States, Washington, D.c.
Resources for the Future Inc.
Smith, Pete
United Kingdom, Aberdeen
University of Aberdeen
Zganjar, Chris E.
United States, Arlington
Nature Conservancy
Blackman, Allen
United States, Washington, D.c.
Resources for the Future Inc.
Conant, Richard Theodore
United States, Fort Collins
Colorado State University
Herrero, Mario
Australia, Canberra
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Kiesécker, Joseph M.
United States, Arlington
Nature Conservancy
Landis, Emily
United States, Arlington
Nature Conservancy
Laestadius, Lars H.
United States, Washington, D.c.
World Resources Institute
Sweden, Uppsala
Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet
Leavitt, Sara M.
United States, Arlington
Nature Conservancy
Polásky, Stephen A.
United States, Minneapolis
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Potapov, Peter V.
United States, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park
Putz, Francis E.
United States, Gainesville
University of Florida
Sanderman, Jonathan
United States, Falmouth
Woods Hole Research Center
Wollenberg, Eva Lini
United States, Burlington
The University of Vermont
Fargione, Joseph E.
United States, Arlington
Nature Conservancy
Statistics
Citations: 1,429
Authors: 22
Affiliations: 18
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1073/pnas.1710465114
ISSN:
00278424
Research Areas
Environmental
Food Security