Carbon storage in world's biomass is increasing

The threat of deforestation is understood as one of the major problems in the world today, but a new study suggests that the total amount of vegetation in the world appears to have increased in the past decade, suggesting a rare ray of light in conservation and climate change news.

The study, which was published late last month in the journal Nature Climate Change as reported by Environmental News Network ENN, saw researchers from Australia assess the amount of carbon stored in living plant mass, also known as biomass, stored above ground. This is one established way that we can measure not just how much carbon is stored but also the density of biomass in any given area and so provides us with an interesting way of assessing regional and global forest densities.

To assess this, the researchers developed a new technique. The researchers explain:

We developed a new technique to map changes in vegetation biomass using satellite measurements of changes in the radio-frequency radiation emitted from the Earth’s surface, a technique called passive microwave remote sensing. The radiation varies with temperature, soil moisture and the shielding of water in vegetation biomass above the ground.

We extracted this vegetation information from several satellites and merged them into one time series covering the last two decades. This allowed us to track global changes in biomass from month to month, something that was not possible before.

When the researchers looked at the years between 2003 and 2012, they saw that the amount of carbon stored above ground in biomass increased by 4 billion tonnes. This indicates that, despite ongoing and severe deforestation in tropical rainforests, other areas have actually managed to “re-green” quite successfully. The researchers indicate one key effort that seems to have had an impact is China’s tree planting known as the Three-North Shelter Forest Program. The effort has seen China create a strip of windbreaking trees that are specifically designed to halt the expansion of the Gobi Desert. This ongoing effort is set to be completed by 2050, with estimates suggesting that by that time the corridor of forest will stretch 4,500km. While the project has hit some problems, and has had its share of criticism, it seems that in this regard at least, it may have been helpful. It also makes China the only region that has purposefully contributed to the identified restoration of forests.

Forest image credit, R. Greenway ENN.