Ecosystem

Global warming

Climate change

Pathology

Sink (geography)

Soil water

Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere

Greenhouse gas

Carbon dioxide

Biology

Algorithm

Composite number

Carbon sink

Carbon fibers

Soil science

Geography

Ecology

Carbon sequestration

Primary production

Vegetation (pathology)

Carbon flux

Computer science

Land use

Cartography

Environmental science

Soil carbon

Atmospheric carbon cycle

Land management

Carbon cycle

Medicine

Communications Earth & Environment

Excessive emissions of greenhouse gases — of which carbon dioxide is the most significant component, are regarded as the primary reason for increased concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide and global warming. Terrestrial vegetation sequesters 112–169 PgC (1PgC = 10 15 g carbon) each year, which plays a vital role in global carbon recycling. Vegetation carbon sequestration varies under different land management practices. Here we propose an integrated method to assess how much more carbon can be sequestered by vegetation if optimal land management practices get implemented. The proposed method combines remotely sensed time-series of net primary productivity datasets, segmented landscape-vegetation-soil zones, and distance-constrained zonal analysis. We find that the global land vegetation can sequester an extra of 13.74 PgC per year if location-specific optimal land management practices are taken and half of the extra clusters in ~15% of vegetated areas. The finding suggests optimizing land management is a promising way to mitigate climate changes.

The global carbon sink potential of terrestrial vegetation can be increased substantially by optimal land management