Global congruence of carbon storage and biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems

Strassburg, Bernardo B. N., Kelly, Annabel, Balmford, Andrew, Davies, Richard G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0145-0818, Gibbs, Holly K., Lovett, Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0554-9273, Miles, Lera, Orme, C. David L., Price, Jeff, Turner, R. Kerry and Rodrigues, Ana S. L. (2010) Global congruence of carbon storage and biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems. Conservation Letters, 3 (2). pp. 98-105.

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Abstract

Deforestation is a main driver of climate change and biodiversity loss. An incentive mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) is being negotiated under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Here we use the best available global data sets on terrestrial biodiversity and carbon storage to map and investigate potential synergies between carbon and biodiversity-oriented conservation. A strong association (rS= 0.82) between carbon stocks and species richness suggests that such synergies would be high, but unevenly distributed. Many areas of high value for biodiversity could be protected by carbon-based conservation, while others could benefit from complementary funding arising from their carbon content. Some high-biodiversity regions, however, would not benefit from carbon-focused conservation, and could become under increased pressure if REDD is implemented. Our results suggest that additional gains for biodiversity conservation are possible, without compromising the effectiveness for climate change mitigation, if REDD takes biodiversity distribution into account.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: sdg 13 - climate action,sdg 15 - life on land ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Organisms and the Environment
Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE)
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Resources, Sustainability and Governance (former - to 2018)
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Environmental Social Sciences
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Collaborative Centre for Sustainable Use of the Seas
Depositing User: Users 2731 not found.
Date Deposited: 09 Jan 2012 14:10
Last Modified: 15 May 2023 02:31
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/35965
DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-263X.2009.00092.x

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