Schlagwort: afforestation

Peer-reviewed Publications

Favero & Austin (2026): Charting our forest future: national supply curves for forest-based CO₂ mitigation

Alice Favero and Kemen G. Austin, IN: Nature Portfolio, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-026-00335-9

Forests currently store more carbon in their vegetation and soil than all of the carbon in earth’s atmosphere. But how much additional CO₂ can be removed and sequestered by forests in the future, and at what cost? This study examines the potential and costs of forest-based mitigation in 215 countries, utilizing a dynamic economic model, FAO data, and new estimates of feasible area and pace of forest restoration.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Allen et al. (2026): Projected impact of combined high-end atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and tree restoration on albedo, forest emissions and carbon uptake

Robert J. Allen, Taylor Adkins & Olivia E. Clifton, IN: Communications Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44458-025-00003-9

Tree restoration is seen as a nature-based solution to climate change, because trees remove carbon from the atmosphere. However, tree cover can influence surface temperatures in other ways, for example by changing albedo and enhancing evapotranspiration. These impacts may, in turn, be affected by increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Here, the authors present simulations with a coupled atmosphere-land-slab-ocean model to investigate how doubled atmospheric carbon dioxide levels affect warming in a high-end scenario where afforestation covers a land area 35% larger than the USA.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

du Toit et al. (2026): Deciduous afforestation as a natural climate solution: impacts on biomass and carbon sequestration in boreal forests of Canada

Francois du Toit, Nicholas C. Coops, Christopher Mulverhill and Aoife Toomey, IN: Carbon Balance and Management, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13021-025-00385-2

Rising temperatures and altered precipitation patterns are expected to have profound impacts on the composition and condition of boreal forests. As a result there are growing needs for climate adaptation strategies in boreal forest management; one potential solution to achieve these goals is the utilization of nature-based climate-informed adaption solutions including afforestation using deciduous species which can help offset carbon emissions and sequester carbon at an increased rate. Deciduous afforestation has the potential to allow mangers to adapt fire-risk, while increasing carbon storage. Here, the authors investigated the impact of deciduous compared to coniferous afforestation on biomass accumulation in the Canadian boreal using a process-based model (3-PG). 3-PG utilises physiological principals to predict the growth of individual species across a variety of climate scenarios. This approach is valuable for projecting forest growth under changing climate, as it can account for plant responses to environmental factors which may not be captured by empirical models based on historical data. The authors simulated forest growth under three future climate scenarios to 2080, and compared the aboveground biomass (AGB, tons of Dry Matter per hectare; tDM ha−1) accumulated to baseline estimates using locally adapted coniferous species. In addition, the authors investigated the modelled effects of converting from conifer to deciduous species on stand level soil water and vapor pressure deficit responses to climate.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Buzacott et al. (2025): Afforestation-Related Fertilisation Quickly Turns Barren Cutaway Peatland Into a Carbon Dioxide Sink

Alexander J. V. Buzacott, Kari Laasasenaho, Risto Lauhanen, Kari Minkkinen, Paavo Ojanen, Gopal Adhikari, Liisa Jokelainen, Lassi Päkkilä, Hannu Marttila, Annalea Lohila, IN: Global Change Biology, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70644

Energy peat extraction has declined rapidly in Europe in recent years, leaving thousands of hectares of land requiring after-use management and planning. A popular after-use option, afforestation, is understudied and there is a limited understanding of its overall effect on greenhouse gas (GHG) and energy exchange. In this study, the authors present a multi-year record of eddy covariance fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO₂), energy fluxes and surface albedo, chamber measurements of methane (CH₄) and N₂O, and estimates of lateral carbon (C) losses from dissolved organic carbon (DOC) measurements from a cutaway peatland in Finland during the first 3 years of afforestation.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Li et al. (2025): Carbon sequestration and tourist land use dynamics: Understanding the effects of urbanization and afforestation

Siyu Li, Muhammad Haseeb, Zainab Tahir, Syed Amer Mahmood, Yahia Said, Nazih Y. Rebouh, Sajid Ullah & Aqil Tariq,IN: Scientific Reports, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-30124-z

Achieving net-zero emissions and combating climate change relies on effective carbon sequestration, with forests as critical carbon sinks. This study examines the impact of land use and land cover (LULC) changes on carbon sequestration from 1993 to 2023. LULC classification was performed using a supervised decision tree classifier on Landsat imagery (1993, 2003, 2013, 2023), and carbon storage was quantified using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) carbon model (v3.14.1), incorporating four carbon pools (aboveground, belowground, soil, and dead organic matter).

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Dsouza et al. (2025): Substantial carbon removal capacity of Taiga reforestation and afforestation at Canada’s boreal edge

Kevin Bradley Dsouza, Enoch Ofosu, Richard Boudreault, Juan Moreno-Cruz & Yuri Leonenko, IN: Communications Earth & Environment, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02822-z

Large-scale tree planting at Canada’s northern boreal forest edge offers potential for climate change mitigation, but this capacity is uncertain due to a lack of spatially explicit models. This study quantifies the carbon removal capacity of tree planting at the northwestern boreal edge using a carbon budget model and Monte Carlo estimates.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Nature – Peng et al. (2025): Newly established forests dominated global carbon sequestration change induced by land cover conversions

Dailiang Peng, Bing Zhang, Shijun Zheng, Weimin Ju, Jing M. Chen, Philippe Ciais, Huadong Guo, Yuhao Pan, Le Yu, Yidi Xu, Bin Zhao, Jón Atli Benediktsson, Alfredo R. Huete, Zhou Shi, Yueming Hu, Liangyun Liu, Fang Chen, Miaogen Shen, Lei Huang & Xiaoyang Zhang, IN: Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61956-y

Land cover conversions (LCC) have substantially reshaped terrestrial carbon dynamics, yet their net impact on carbon sequestration remains uncertain. Here, the authors use the remote sensing-driven BEPS model and high-resolution HILDA+ data to quantify LCC-induced changes in net ecosystem productivity (NEP) from 1981 to 2019.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Science – Liang et al. (2025): Climate mitigation potential for targeted forestation after considering climate change, fires, and albedo

Shijing Liang, Alan D. Ziegler, Peter B. Reich, Kai Zhu, Dashan Wang, Xin Jiang, Deliang Chen, Philippe Ciais and Zhenzhong Zeng IN: Science Advances, doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adn7915

The carbon sequestration potential of afforestation and reforestation remains uncertain in satellite-based assessments, particularly when accounting for dynamic climate conditions, vegetation-climate feedback, fire-dominated disturbance, and the trade-offs associated with surface albedo changes. Leveraging a coupled Earth system model, the authors estimated the global forestation mitigation during 2021–2100 under a sustainable shared socioeconomic pathway.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Yan et al. (2025): Afforestation boosted gross primary productivity of China: evidence from remote sensing

Wei Yan, Hesong Wang, Chao Jiang, Osbert Jianxin Sun, Jianmin Chu, Anzhi Zhang IN: Journal of Forestry Research, 36, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-025-01828-9

Over recent decades, China has launched a series of long-running and large-scale ambitious forestation projects. However, there is still a lack of year-to-year evaluation on the effects of afforestation on carbon sequestration. Satellite remote sensing provides continuous observations of vegetation dynamics and land use and land cover change, is becoming a practical tool to evaluate the changes of vegetation productivity driven by afforestation. Here, a spatially-explicit analysis was conducted by combining Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land cover and three up-to-date remote sensing gross primary productivity (GPP) datasets of China.

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Peer-reviewed Publications

Upeksha et al. (2025): Costs and benefits of afforestation with renewable electricity-based desalination: Case study for Egypt

Upeksha Caldera, Andreas Mühlbauer, Mai ElSayed, Arman Aghahosseiini, Christian Breyer IN: Smart Energy, 17, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.segy.2025.100174

Aim of this research is to show how Egypt can make use of its plentiful renewable resources, available land area, and access to the sea, to establish cost-effective afforestation irrigated with renewable energy-based seawater desalination for land degradation mitigation.

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