Carbon sequestration5/23/2023 Owners of forestland may qualify for preferential treatment in property tax assessments. Maintaining healthy forests benefits the environment, renewable energy production and the lucrative timber industry. States are supporting increased carbon sequestration and storage and sustainable forest management practices through a number of approaches. Invasive insects and diseases, drought, wildfires and urban development-all of which can be compounded with a changing climate-can affect the amount of forestland and the rate of carbon sequestration and storage. When a carbon pool decomposes or is burned, it releases carbon as carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. Harvested wood products and landfills also store carbon. Live trees have the highest carbon density, followed by soils and the forest floor. Forest Service reports that the nation’s forests and forest products offset nearly 16 percent of domestic carbon dioxide emissions by storing 866 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, a quantity equivalent to the annual emissions from 50 million gas- or diesel-fueled vehicles.įorests absorb carbon dioxide from the atmopshere and store it in different repositories, called carbon pools, which include trees (both living and dead), root systems, undergrowth, the forest floor and soils. The country’s publicly and privately owned forests and grasslands can sequester (absorb) and store a tremendous amount of carbon, and have significant potential to do more. Ownership patterns vary by region, with private ownership dominating in the North and South and public ownership dominating in the Rocky Mountains and Alaska. The other 42 percent is under the control of federal, state and local governments. forestland is privately owned-by individuals, families, Native American tribes, corporations and nonprofit groups. ![]() Although significant regional changes have occurred, the total area of forestland has been fairly stable for the past 100 years.įifty-eight percent of U.S. Forests are found throughout the country and contain more than 800 species of trees. The rate with which the carbon is stored is referred to as the carbon sequestration rate.The United States is home to approximately 766 million acres of forestland covering about 33 percent of the nation’s total land area. The absolute quantity of carbon held within a habitat pool at a specified time is carbon stock or storage. Carbon sequestration and storageĬarbon sequestration is the process of removing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in carbon pools of the specific habitats like above ground biomass, roots and soil. Marine ecosystems are the largest long-term sink for carbon in the biosphere, storing and cycling an estimated 93% of the Earth’s carbon dioxide. Relatively high sequestration rates in land used for agriculture are mostly harvested and only provide minor contributions to carbon storage in our nature. Wetlands have relative low carbon sequestration rates but can accumulate carbon over decades and even many centuries, explaining their very large storage capacity, which on average, exceeds all other habitats. Forests take up more carbon above and below ground over a same period compared to other ecosystems but there are many differences depending on where the forests are located across Europe. Forests and wetlandsĪmong land ecosystems and habitats, forests have the highest carbon sequestration rates and reach up to three times that of wetlands and farmland, according to the study. The aim is to build up a base of knowledge and data for future research on carbon storage capacities in support of nature restoration and conservation as well as climate mitigation policies. The study used the European Nature Information System (EUNIS) habitat classification system. The EEA briefing, based on a larger scoping review by the EEA and the Wageningen University and Research, is the first attempt to classify a selected group of different land and marine habitats and ecosystems according to their carbon stocks and carbon sequestration capacities. ![]() Synergies but also trade-offs will have to be carefully considered to make sure nature conservation and restoration objectives and climate mitigation actions do not act against each other. However, as the EEA briefing ' Carbon stocks and sequestration in terrestrial and marine ecosystems: a lever for nature restoration?' points out putting such measures into practice is more complex. In theory, well-functioning and healthy habitats can uptake and store large amounts of carbon and contribute to help Europe mitigate the effects of climate change by reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
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