The effectiveness of global protected areas for climate change mitigation

L. Duncanson; M. Liang; V. Leitold; J. Armston; S. M. Krishna Moorthy; R. Dubayah; S. Costedoat; B. J. Enquist; L. Fatoyinbo; S. J. Goetz; M. Gonzalez-Roglich; C. Merow; P. R. Roehrdanz; K. Tabor; A. Zvoleff

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38073-9

The effectiveness of global protected areas for climate change mitigation

L. Duncanson, M. Liang, V. Leitold, J. Armston, S. M. Krishna Moorthy, R. Dubayah, S. Costedoat, B. J. Enquist, L. Fatoyinbo, S. J. Goetz, M. Gonzalez-Roglich, C. Merow, P. R. Roehrdanz, K. Tabor, A. Zvoleff

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Forests play a critical role in stabilizing Earth’s climate. Establishing protected areas (PAs) represents one approach to forest conservation, but PAs were rarely created to mitigate climate change. The global impact of PAs on the carbon cycle has not previously been quantified due to a lack of accurate global-scale carbon stock maps. Here we used ~412 million lidar samples from NASA’s GEDI mission to estimate a total PA aboveground carbon (C) stock of 61.43 Gt (+/− 0.31), 26% of all mapped terrestrial woody C. Of this total, 9.65 + /− 0.88 Gt of additional carbon was attributed to PA status. These higher C stocks are primarily from avoided emissions from deforestation and degradation in PAs compared to unprotected forests. This total is roughly equivalent to one year of annual global fossil fuel emissions. These results underscore the importance of conservation of high biomass forests for avoiding carbon emissions and preserving future sequestration.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	2908
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	14
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38073-9
State	Published - Dec 2023
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemistry
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Physics and Astronomy

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10.1038/s41467-023-38073-9

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Duncanson, L., Liang, M., Leitold, V., Armston, J., Krishna Moorthy, S. M., Dubayah, R., Costedoat, S., Enquist, B. J., Fatoyinbo, L., Goetz, S. J., Gonzalez-Roglich, M., Merow, C., Roehrdanz, P. R., Tabor, K., & Zvoleff, A. (2023). The effectiveness of global protected areas for climate change mitigation. Nature Communications, 14(1), Article 2908. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38073-9

Duncanson, L, Liang, M, Leitold, V, Armston, J, Krishna Moorthy, SM, Dubayah, R, Costedoat, S, Enquist, BJ, Fatoyinbo, L, Goetz, SJ, Gonzalez-Roglich, M, Merow, C, Roehrdanz, PR, Tabor, K & Zvoleff, A 2023, 'The effectiveness of global protected areas for climate change mitigation', Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, 2908. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38073-9

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abstract = "Forests play a critical role in stabilizing Earth{\textquoteright}s climate. Establishing protected areas (PAs) represents one approach to forest conservation, but PAs were rarely created to mitigate climate change. The global impact of PAs on the carbon cycle has not previously been quantified due to a lack of accurate global-scale carbon stock maps. Here we used ~412 million lidar samples from NASA{\textquoteright}s GEDI mission to estimate a total PA aboveground carbon (C) stock of 61.43 Gt (+/− 0.31), 26% of all mapped terrestrial woody C. Of this total, 9.65 + /− 0.88 Gt of additional carbon was attributed to PA status. These higher C stocks are primarily from avoided emissions from deforestation and degradation in PAs compared to unprotected forests. This total is roughly equivalent to one year of annual global fossil fuel emissions. These results underscore the importance of conservation of high biomass forests for avoiding carbon emissions and preserving future sequestration.",

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AU - Goetz, S. J.

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The effectiveness of global protected areas for climate change mitigation

Abstract

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