New globally consistent methods for mapping forest carbon sources and sinks around the world show that forests absorb a net 7.6 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. The data confirms that globally forests are an overall carbon sink, though there is variation within forests. New maps released in Nature Climate Change offer a highly detailed picture of forests’ role in regulating carbon emissions. Source: Timberbiz
The forest carbon flux map, now publicly available on Global Forest Watch, shows that between 2001 and 2019, forests emitted an average of 8.1 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year from deforestation and other disturbances. At the same time, forests absorbed 16 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
The study highlights the need to invest in both reducing deforestation in tropical countries and maintaining and enhancing forest carbon sequestration at the same time. The continued destruction of the world’s largest tropical forests – 11.9 million hectares of tropical tree cover was lost in 2019 alone – makes them less powerful carbon sinks.
The granularity of these data enables emissions and removals to be quantified more consistently across any geographic scale ranging from small local forests, to countries, to entire continents.
For example, the data show that 27% of the world’s net forest carbon sink falls within protected areas, underscoring the need for conservation within these areas.
The methodology was developed by a team of scientists and researchers.
By combining ground measurements with satellite observations this method provides the first globally consistent dataset for estimating carbon fluxes from forests. This new monitoring system will support more targeted policies and actions, and transparent tracking towards forest-specific climate mitigation goals with both local detail and global consistency.
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