Deforestation has intensified global warming, but a new study out in Nature Communications Earth and Environment finds restoring forests and adopting sustainable land-use practices can reverse the damage while benefiting both people and nature.
A new study published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment reveals that when land managers implement nature-based climate solutions, they can significantly counteract the climate-warming effects of past deforestation. The research, led by ecologists and climate scientists at Michigan State University’s Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences in the United States, comprehensively quantifies the net radiative forcing, a measure of climate impact, caused by the historical deforestation of the U.S. Upper Midwest. Their findings show that a voracious timber boom in the late 19th century led to substantial global warming, primarily by emitting the carbon stored in trees into the atmosphere, but also through increased soil nitrous oxide emissions and diminished atmospheric methane uptake. Much of this net warming effect, estimated at 1626 ± 44 μW m⁻², was calculated by analyzing digitized U.S. Public Land Survey witness tree records from the early 1800’s.
However, the study also delivers hopeful news: implementing nature-based climate solutions could reverse much of this impact. Using over three decades of satellite observations, forest inventories, and field experiments at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station Long Term Ecological Research Site (KBS LTER), the researchers evaluated eight nature-based climate solutions, including conservation agriculture, managed forestry, and ecosystem restoration.
They found that:
- Conservation agriculture can mitigate -39 to -76 ± 31 μW m⁻² of radiative forcing
- Short/medium length rotation forestry can offset -296 to -881 ± 44 μW m⁻²
- Natural forest regeneration delivers the largest benefit at -1555 ± 44 μW m⁻²
“This study suggests that people around the world can get involved in reversing global warming by using land in ways that are relevant to their culture and environment.” said lead author Dr. Grant Falvo. “Restoring forests and changing how we manage land can meaningfully cool the planet, while also providing societal benefits and habitat for biodiversity.” Dr. Falvo continued.
Senior author and former director of the KBS LTER site used in the study, University Distinguished Professor Dr. G. Philip Robertson stated, “Nature-based climate solutions are important tools in our quest to keep climate change from becoming ever more severe, and results from this study reveal the value of alternative land management paths available today, without waiting for new technologies that may never pan out. Both reforestation and agricultural practice change, implemented across millions of acres, can play important roles were we to enact meaningful policy changes.”
The researchers note that one-third of the region’s forests are already recovering, substantially helping to cool the planet and provide critical habitat for native plants and animals. They suggest that adopting nature-based climate solutions, like conservation agriculture and forestry, within existing agricultural landscapes could be a sensible way to benefit both people and the planet.
Contact for Media Inquiries
Grant Falvo (grant.falvo@nau.edu) – Dept. of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University