Overlap Between Carbon Stores and Intact Boreal Woodland Caribou Ranges in Canada's Boreal Forest

Abstract

Canada, like many nations around the world, is struggling to find solutions to both climate change impacts and biodiversity loss. Given the enormity of these problems, opportunities to align government policy responses are highly appealing. In Canada's Boreal Forest biome there is a compelling case that conservation designations of large landscapes can help slow biodiversity losses, including of iconic threatened species like boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), while increasing the likelihood that massive stores of carbon in those landscapes will remain there. The Boreal Forest biome of Canada is estimated to hold a minimum of 208 billion tons of carbon. Only 11% of the total carbon stored in soils and vegetation in Canada is now within existing protected areas. At least 69 billion tons of carbon are stored in unprotected intact landscapes that support woodland caribou.