Carbon emissions and removals from forests: new estimates, 1990–2020

National, regional and global CO2 emissions and removals from forests were estimated for the period 1990–2020 using as input the country reports of the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020. The new Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates, based on a simple carbon stock change approach, update published information on net emissions and removals from forests in relation to (a) net forest conversion and (b) forest land. Results show a significant reduction in global emissions from net forest conversion over the study period, from a mean of 4.3 in 1991–2000 to 2.9 GtCO2 yr-1 in 2016–2020. At the same time, forest land was a significant carbon sink globally but decreased in strength over the study period, from -3:5 to -2:6 GtCO2 yr-1. Combining net forest conversion with forest land, our estimates indicated that globally forests were a small net source of CO2 to the atmosphere on average during 1990–2020, with mean net emissions of 0.4 GtCO2 yr-1. Finally, we compared our estimates with data independently reported by countries to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change, indicating close agreement between FAO and country emissions and removals estimates. Data from this study are openly available via the Zenodo portal (Tubiello, 2020), with DOI https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3941973, as well as in the FAOSTAT (Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database) emissions database (FAO, 2021a).

TUBIELLO Francesco;  CONCHEDDA Giulia;  WANNER Nathan;  FEDERICI Sandro;  ROSSI Simone;  GRASSI Giacomo; 

2021-12-17

COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH

JRC127558

1866-3508 (online),   

https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/13/1681/2021/,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC127558,   

10.5194/essd-13-1681-2021 (online),