Creating Strategic Reserves to Protect Forest Carbon and Reduce Biodiversity Losses in the United States
Name
land-11-00721.pdf
Size
3.67 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
ac19189764c7cbba800b7c9918061e71
Author(s)
Law, Beverly E.
Moomaw, William R.
Hudiburg, Tara W.
Schlesinger, William H.
Sterman, John D.
Woodwell, George M.
Date Issued
May 11, 2022
Publisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Citation
Land 11 (5): 721 (2022)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
This paper provides a review and comparison of strategies to increase forest carbon, and reduce species losses for climate change mitigation and adaptation in the United States. It compares forest management strategies and actions that are taking place or being proposed to reduce wildfire risk and to increase carbon storage with recent research findings. International agreements state that safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystems is fundamental to climate resilience with respect to climate change impacts on them, and their roles in adaptation and mitigation. The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on impacts, mitigation, and adaptation found, and member countries agreed, that maintaining the resilience of biodiversity and ecosystem services at a global scale is “fundamental” for climate mitigation and adaptation, and requires “effective and equitable conservation of approximately 30 to 50% of Earth’s land, freshwater and ocean areas, including current near-natural ecosystems.” Our key message is that many of the current and proposed forest management actions in the United States are not consistent with climate goals, and that preserving 30 to 50% of lands for their carbon, biodiversity and water is feasible, effective, and necessary for achieving them.
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3390/land11050721
