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Primary Forests Are Undervalued in the Climate Emergency

DOI:10.1093/biosci/biaa030
Authors:
Dominick A Dellasala at Geos Institute
Dominick A Dellasala
  • Geos Institute
Cyril Kormos at Wild Heritage
Cyril Kormos
  • Wild Heritage
H. Keith at Griffith University
H. Keith
Brendan Mackey at Griffith University
Brendan Mackey
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Letters
https://academic.oup.com/bioscience XXXX XXXX / Vol. XX No. X •BioScience 1
Primary Forests Are Undervalued in
the Climate Emergency
Scientists are increasingly alarmed
by the accelerating climate and
biodiversity crises, as, for example,
Ripple and colleagues (2020), recently
published in BioScience and signed
by three of us (DAD, BM, BR) during
the initiating letter. However, decision-
makers rarely recognize the inextri-
cable link between biodiversity and
climate change. We cannot solve one
without the other. Earth’s biosphere
contains enormous carbon stocks that
have the potential to fundamentally
alter the trajectory of climate change.
Biodiversity is crucial for stabilizing
these carbon stocks and keeping them
out of the atmosphere.
The climate change mitigation ben-
efit of forests in general is to store
large amounts of carbon in a stable,
self-regenerating and long-term res-
ervoir. Therefore, even if we eliminate
fossil fuels, continued deforestation
and forest degradation will generate
severe climate disruptions: the carbon
stocks in the living biomass of primary
(unlogged) tropical forests alone is
approximately 114 petagrams of car-
bon, equivalent to the estimated global
carbon budget for a 66% probability
of meeting the 1.5 degrees Celsius
global warming target. While most
climate policy is aimed at fossil fuels,
it is critically important to also protect
forest carbon. The mitigation potential
of forests is recognized by Ripple and
colleagues (2020) and others (Griscom
et al. 2017) but the significance of
protecting forests, especially primary
forests, is not sufficiently promoted.
Primary forests represent roughly
one-third of remaining forests glob-
ally (Mackey et al. 2014). They
contain irreplaceable biodiversity
intertwined with critical ecosystem
services that help regulate the global
climate and maintain stable carbon
pools. Carbon-dense primary forests
are found in every major forest biome
and they typically support higher lev-
els of biodiversity than logged forests,
especially imperiled and endemic spe-
cies. These forests store approximately
30%–50% more carbon than logged
ones, with the largest trees accounting
for most of the above ground living
stores. Some of the densest terrestrial
carbon pools are in primary boreal
forests in the peatlands of Canada
and Russia, Pacific coastal temper-
ate rainforests, wet temperate eucalypt
forests in southeast Australia, and west
coast temperate rainforests in Chile
and New Zealand.
Despite claims that tree plant-
ing is essential to stabilize the global
climate, the mitigation potential of
planting trees is trivial if we do not
prioritize primary forest protection
followed by proforestation of logged
forests (Moomaw et al. 2019). Ceasing
deforestation and degradation of pri-
mary forests has an immediate mitiga-
tion benefit, whereas carbon stored
in newly planted trees will take many
decades to make a significant contribu-
tion to reducing atmospheric carbon
dioxide. Proforestation that buffers
and reconnects even small areas of
primary forests would improve ecosys-
tem integrity, stability, and long-term
carbon storage.
We applaud scientists who sound the
alarm about the climate and biodiver-
sity crises. We now need to prioritize
the most effective nature-based climate
solutions, led by primary forests protec-
tions and proforestation, and supported
by much needed forest-climate policies
and greatly expanded financial invest-
ments (Mackey et al. 2014).
Acknowledgments
The research reported here was sup-
ported in part by a private charitable
trust that wishes to remain anonymous
to avoid unsolicited funding requests.
The trust has had no influence on the
design, analysis, interpretation, and
documentation of this research.
DOMINICK A. DELLASALA,
CYRIL F. KORMOS,
HEATHER KEITH,
BRENDAN MACKEY,
VIRGINIA YOUNG,
BRENDAN ROGERS, AND
RUSSELL A. MITTERMEIER
Dominick A. DellaSala
(dominick@geosinstitute.org) is affiliated
with the Geos Institute, in Ashland,
Oregon. Cyril F. Kormos is affiliated
with Wild Heritage, in Berkeley,
California. Heather Keith and Brendan
Mackey are affiliated with the Griffith
Climate Change Response Program, at
Griffith University, in Mount Gravatt,
Queensland, Australia. Virginia Young
is affiliated with the International
Climate and Forest Programme, part of
the Australian Rainforest Conservation
Society, in Bardon, Queensland,
Australia. Brendan Rogers is affiliated
with the Woods Hole Research Center,
in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Russell A.
Mittermeier is affiliated with Global
Wildlife Conservation, in Austin, Texas.
References
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doi:10.1093/biosci/biaa030
Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/biosci/biaa030/5828585 by guest on 08 May 2020
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Protecting forests is an increasingly essential and urgent priority to address the climate and biodiversity crises. These forests are home to communities, often Indigenous communities, who are facing multiple pressures including industrial extraction (logging and mining), illegal activities, as well as population growth and development, all of which drive land use change, forest loss and degradation. Addressing these multiple pressures requires integrated landscape approaches. Landscape planning has an important role to play in forest protection and conservation, including in areas of tropical primary forest in developing countries. However, resource and capacity limitations mean that planning activities in these contexts are often informal and nascent, rather than highly formalised in planning documents, and evaluation is limited. Robust tools to guide evaluation in emergent planning contexts can help improve planning processes and outcomes, and guide planners (community-based and otherwise) to choose and apply the right planning tools for the context. This paper develops an evaluation framework of principles, criteria and indicators for assessing informal and emerging forest landscape planning processes. The framework is designed particularly for stakeholders involved in forest landscapes planning processes with few resources and where formal technical capacity is limited. The framework will help guide and improve landscape planning for forest protection and sustainability.
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Intact Forests in the United States: Proforestation Mitigates Climate Change and Serves the Greatest Good
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 2019
Climate change and loss of biodiversity are widely recognized as the foremost environmental challenges of our time. Forests annually sequester large quantities of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2), and store carbon above and below ground for long periods of time. Intact forests-largely free from human intervention except primarily for trails and hazard removals-are the most carbon-dense and biodiverse terrestrial ecosystems, with additional benefits to society and the economy. Internationally, focus has been on preventing loss of tropical forests, yet U.S. temperate and boreal forests remove sufficient atmospheric CO 2 to reduce national annual net emissions by 11%. U.S. forests have the potential for much more rapid atmospheric CO 2 removal rates and biological carbon sequestration by intact and/or older forests. The recent 1.5 Degree Warming Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change identifies reforestation and afforestation as important strategies to increase negative emissions, but they face significant challenges: afforestation requires an enormous amount of additional land, and neither strategy can remove sufficient carbon by growing young trees during the critical next decade(s). In contrast, growing existing forests intact to their ecological potential-termed proforestation-is a more effective, immediate, and low-cost approach that could be mobilized across suitable forests of all types. Proforestation serves the greatest public good by maximizing co-benefits such as nature-based biological carbon sequestration and unparalleled ecosystem services such as biodiversity enhancement, water and air quality, flood and erosion control, public health benefits, low impact recreation, and scenic beauty.
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Natural climate solutions
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Full-text available
  • Oct 2017
Significance Most nations recently agreed to hold global average temperature rise to well below 2 °C. We examine how much climate mitigation nature can contribute to this goal with a comprehensive analysis of “natural climate solutions” (NCS): 20 conservation, restoration, and/or improved land management actions that increase carbon storage and/or avoid greenhouse gas emissions across global forests, wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural lands. We show that NCS can provide over one-third of the cost-effective climate mitigation needed between now and 2030 to stabilize warming to below 2 °C. Alongside aggressive fossil fuel emissions reductions, NCS offer a powerful set of options for nations to deliver on the Paris Climate Agreement while improving soil productivity, cleaning our air and water, and maintaining biodiversity.
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Policy Options for the World's Primary Forests in Multilateral Environmental Agreements
Article
Full-text available
  • Jul 2014
We identify policies that would provide a solid foundation in key international negotiations to ensure that primary forests persist into the 21st Century. A novel compilation of primary forest cover and other data revealed that protection of primary forests is a matter of global concern being equally distributed between developed and developing countries. Almost all (98%) of primary forest is found within 25 countries with around half in five developed ones (USA, Canada, Russia, Australia and NZ). Only ∼ 22% of primary forest is found in IUCN Protected Areas Categories I-VI, which is approximately 5% of pre-agriculture natural forest cover. Rates of deforestation and forest degradation are rapid and extensive, and the long-term integrity of primary forest cannot be assumed. We recommend four new actions that could be included in climate change, biodiversity, and sustainable development negotiations: (1) Recognize primary forests as a matter of global concern within international negotiations; (2) Incorporate primary forests into environmental accounting; (3) Prioritize the principle of avoided loss; and (4) Universally accept the important role of indigenous and community conserved areas. In the absence of specific policies for primary forest protection, their unique biodiversity values and ecosystem services will continue to erode.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Policy options for the world's primary forests in multilateral environmental agreements
  • Jan 2014
  • 139-147
  • B Mackey