Climate change mitigation: a spatial analysis of global land suitability for clean development mechanism afforestation and reforestation

Within the Kyoto Protocol, the clean development mechanism (CDM) is an instrument intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while assisting developing countries in achieving sustainable development, with the multiple goals of poverty reduction, environmental benefits and cost-effective emission r...

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Main Authors: Zomer, Robert J., Trabucco, Antonio, Bossio, Deborah A., Verchot, Louis V.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/40804
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author Zomer, Robert J.
Trabucco, Antonio
Bossio, Deborah A.
Verchot, Louis V.
author_browse Bossio, Deborah A.
Trabucco, Antonio
Verchot, Louis V.
Zomer, Robert J.
author_facet Zomer, Robert J.
Trabucco, Antonio
Bossio, Deborah A.
Verchot, Louis V.
author_sort Zomer, Robert J.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Within the Kyoto Protocol, the clean development mechanism (CDM) is an instrument intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while assisting developing countries in achieving sustainable development, with the multiple goals of poverty reduction, environmental benefits and cost-effective emission reductions. The CDM allows for a small percentage of emission reduction credits to come from afforestation and reforestation (CDM-AR) projects. We conducted a global analysis of land suitability for CDM-AR carbon 'sink' projects and identified large amounts of land (749 Mha) as biophysically suitable and meeting the CDM-AR eligibility criteria. Forty-six percent of all the suitable areas globally were found in South America and 27% in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Asia, despite the larger land mass, relatively less land was available. In South America and Sub-Saharan Africa the majority of the suitable land was shrubland/grassland or savanna. In Asia the majority of the land was low-intensity agriculture. The sociologic and ecological analyses showed that large amounts of suitable land exhibited relatively low population densities. Many of the most marginal areas were eliminated due to high aridity, which resulted in a generally Gaussian distribution of land productivity classes. If the cap on CDM-AR were raised to compensate for a substantially greater offset of carbon emission through sink projects, this study suggests that it will be increasingly important to consider implications on local to regional food security and local community livelihoods.
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spelling CGSpace408042023-06-12T13:43:22Z Climate change mitigation: a spatial analysis of global land suitability for clean development mechanism afforestation and reforestation Zomer, Robert J. Trabucco, Antonio Bossio, Deborah A. Verchot, Louis V. climate change land degradation afforestation reforestation land use models trees forests carbon Within the Kyoto Protocol, the clean development mechanism (CDM) is an instrument intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while assisting developing countries in achieving sustainable development, with the multiple goals of poverty reduction, environmental benefits and cost-effective emission reductions. The CDM allows for a small percentage of emission reduction credits to come from afforestation and reforestation (CDM-AR) projects. We conducted a global analysis of land suitability for CDM-AR carbon 'sink' projects and identified large amounts of land (749 Mha) as biophysically suitable and meeting the CDM-AR eligibility criteria. Forty-six percent of all the suitable areas globally were found in South America and 27% in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Asia, despite the larger land mass, relatively less land was available. In South America and Sub-Saharan Africa the majority of the suitable land was shrubland/grassland or savanna. In Asia the majority of the land was low-intensity agriculture. The sociologic and ecological analyses showed that large amounts of suitable land exhibited relatively low population densities. Many of the most marginal areas were eliminated due to high aridity, which resulted in a generally Gaussian distribution of land productivity classes. If the cap on CDM-AR were raised to compensate for a substantially greater offset of carbon emission through sink projects, this study suggests that it will be increasingly important to consider implications on local to regional food security and local community livelihoods. 2008 2014-06-13T14:48:28Z 2014-06-13T14:48:28Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/40804 en Limited Access Zomer, R. J.; Trabucco, Antonio; Bossio, Deborah A.; Verchot, L. V. 2008. Climate change mitigation: a spatial analysis of global land suitability for clean development mechanism afforestation and reforestation. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 126: 67-80.
spellingShingle climate change
land degradation
afforestation
reforestation
land use
models
trees
forests
carbon
Zomer, Robert J.
Trabucco, Antonio
Bossio, Deborah A.
Verchot, Louis V.
Climate change mitigation: a spatial analysis of global land suitability for clean development mechanism afforestation and reforestation
title Climate change mitigation: a spatial analysis of global land suitability for clean development mechanism afforestation and reforestation
title_full Climate change mitigation: a spatial analysis of global land suitability for clean development mechanism afforestation and reforestation
title_fullStr Climate change mitigation: a spatial analysis of global land suitability for clean development mechanism afforestation and reforestation
title_full_unstemmed Climate change mitigation: a spatial analysis of global land suitability for clean development mechanism afforestation and reforestation
title_short Climate change mitigation: a spatial analysis of global land suitability for clean development mechanism afforestation and reforestation
title_sort climate change mitigation a spatial analysis of global land suitability for clean development mechanism afforestation and reforestation
topic climate change
land degradation
afforestation
reforestation
land use
models
trees
forests
carbon
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/40804
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