Terrestrial ecosystems can significantly offset human carbon emissions, finds new analysis
- Media Manager
- Jul 27, 2023
- 1 min read
Phys.org
Written By: University of California - Berkeley
Published: July 27th, 2023
The world's forests, grasslands, and other terrestrial ecosystems have played a substantial role in offsetting human carbon emissions—a capability that UC Berkeley researchers say would be threatened by continued global change.
The assessment, published today as a new review paper in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, presents a comprehensive analysis of hundreds of scientific research articles and explores the complex interactions between the Earth's ecosystems and the atmosphere.
These terrestrial ecosystems—collectively referred to as the land carbon sink—absorb approximately one-third of anthropogenic carbon emissions annually, and thus have effectively lessened the impact of greenhouse gas emissions linked to humans.
"Research has greatly advanced our understanding of the carbon cycle and the Earth's capacity to regulate climate change," said Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM) Ph.D. candidate Sophie Ruehr, lead author of the review. "The land carbon sink has served as a buffer, offsetting a significant portion of human carbon emissions and helping to stabilize the global climate."
