Year: 2008
Type: article
Abstract: Policies for climate mitigation on land rarely acknowledge biophysical factors, such as reflectivity, evaporation, and surface roughness. Yet such factors can alter temperatures much more than carbon sequestration does, and often in a conflicting way. We outline a framework for examining biophysical factors in mitigation policies and provide some best-practice recommendations based on that framework. Tropical projects—avoided deforestation, forest restoration, and afforestation—provide the greatest climate value, because carbon storage and biophysics align to cool the Earth. In contrast, the climate benefits of carbon storage are often counteracted in boreal and other snow-covered regions, where darker trees trap more heat than snow does. Managers can increase the climate benefit of some forest projects by using more reflective and deciduous species and through urban forestry projects that reduce energy use. Ignoring biophysical interactions could result in millions of dollars being invested in some mitigation projects that provide little climate benefit or, worse, are counter-productive.
Source: Environmental Research Letters
Institutions: Duke University, University of California, Irvine, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, University of California, Berkeley, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, Carnegie Institution for Science, Purdue University West Lafayette, Northern Arizona University, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, National University of San Luis, University of California, Merced
Language: English
Topic: Forest Management and Policy
Subfield: Forestry
Domain: Life Sciences
SDGs: Climate action, Life on land
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,045
Funder: U.S. Department of Energy
OpenAlex ID: W2145601039