Targeted carbon conservation at national scales with high-resolution monitoring.
Terrestrial carbon conservation can provide critical environmental, social, and climate benefits. Yet, the geographically complex mosaic of threats to, and opportunities for, conserving carbon in landscapes remain largely unresolved at national scales. Using a new high-resolution carbon mapping approach applied to Perú, a megadiverse country undergoing rapid land use change, we found that at least 0.8 Pg of aboveground carbon stocks are at imminent risk of emission from land use activities. Map-based information on the natural controls over carbon density, as well as current ecosystem threats and protections, revealed three biogeographically explicit strategies that fully offset forthcoming land-use emissions. High-resolution carbon mapping affords targeted interventions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in rapidly developing tropical nations.
Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA 94305; gpa@carnegiescience.edu.
Gregory P
GP
Asner
Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA 94305;
David E
DE
Knapp
Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA 94305;
Roberta E
RE
Martin
Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA 94305;
Raul
R
Tupayachi
Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA 94305;
Christopher B
CB
Anderson
Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA 94305;
Joseph
J
Mascaro
Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA 94305;
Felipe
F
Sinca
Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA 94305;
K Dana
KD
Chadwick
Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA 94305;
Mark
M
Higgins
Department of Biology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27106; and.
William
W
Farfan
Dirección General de Ordenamiento Territorial, Ministerio del Ambiente, San Isidro, Lima 27, Perú
William
W
Llactayo
Department of Biology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27106; and.
Miles R
MR
Silman
REDD+; carbon sequestration; deforestation; forest degradation; light detection and ranging