Huge Carbon Sequestration Potential in Global Forests

Abstract

Forests play an important role in mitigating climate change by absorbing carbon from atmosphere. The global forests sequestrated 2.4±0.4 Pg C y-1 from 1990 to 2007, while the quantitative assessment on the carbon sequestration potential (CSP) of global forests has much uncertainty. We collected and compiled a database of site above-ground biomass (AGB) of global mature forests, and obtained AGB carbon carrying capacity (CCC) of global forests by interpolating global mature forest site data. The results show that: (i) at a global scale, the AGB of mature forests decline mainly from tropical forests to boreal forests, and the maximum AGB occurs in middle latitude regions; (ii) temperature and precipitation are main factors influencing the AGB of mature forests; and (iii) the above-ground biomass CCC of global forests is about 586.2±49.3 Pg C, and with CSP of 313.4 Pg C. Therefore, achieving CCC of the existing forests by reducing human disturbance is an option for mitigating greenhouse gas emission.