Experts said that 226 gigatons of carbon could be sequestered by allowing trees to grow old.
A recent study showed that forests are a substantial terrestrial carbon sink, but anthropogenic changes in land use and climate have considerably reduced the scale of this system.
Carbon Losses from Forests
It said that remote-sensing estimates to quantify carbon losses from global forests are characterized by considerable uncertainty and researchers are lacking a comprehensive ground-sourced evaluation to benchmark these estimates.
In the study, experts have combined several ground-sourced and satellite-derived approaches to evaluate the scale of the global forest carbon potential outside agricultural and urban lands.
Despite regional variation, the predictions demonstrated remarkable consistency at a global scale, with only a 12% difference between the ground-sourced and satellite-derived estimates.
At present, global forest carbon storage is markedly under the natural potential, with a total deficit of 226 Gt (model range = 151-363 Gt) in areas with low human footprint.
Most of this potential is in areas with existing forests, in which ecosystem protection can allow forests to recover to maturity.
The remaining potential lies in regions in which forests have been removed or fragmented.
Experts noted that although forests cannot be a substitute for emissions reductions, the results of the study support the idea that the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of diverse forests offer valuable contributions to meeting global climate and biodiversity targets.
The continuing climate and biodiversity crises threaten ecosystems and human society, according to experts.
They said that representing 80% to 90% of the global plant biomass and much of Earth's terrestrial biodiversity, forests play a key role in both climate-change mitigation and adaptation.
So far, humans have removed almost half of Earth's natural forests, and we continue to lose a further 0.9 to 2.3 Gt C each year (about 15% of annual human carbon emissions) through deforestation.
In response to these pressing challenges, international environmental initiatives such as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and Land Use have been established to reduce deforestation and revitalize ecosystems.
Read Also: Study Finds that the Largest Trees Capture Much More Carbon and Dominate Forest Carbon Storage
Environmental Targets
The study noted that a key step in guiding such environmental targets is gaining a comprehensive understanding of the global distribution of existing forest carbon stocks, as well as the potential for carbon recapture if healthy ecosystems are allowed to recover.
Researchers noted that amid the greenwashing concerns around nature's role in climate crisis mitigation, they underlined the importance of biodiversity in helping forests reach their carbon drawdown potential.
They also issued a warning that planting huge numbers of single species would not help and urgent cuts to fossil fuel emissions were needed.
The study indicated that the rising numbers of forest fires and higher temperatures due to the climate crisis would be likely to reduce the potential.
Most of the world's forests are highly degraded, according to experts.
They said that many people have never been in one of the few old growth forests that remain on Earth.
Related Article: World's Forest Are Getting 'Weaker' Due To Unstable Conditions Caused by Human Interactions
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