Carbon Storage by Urban Forests (U.S. National Park Service) (2024)
Climate change is an issue of global concern. Urban trees can help mitigate climate change by storing carbon in tree tissue and sequestering atmospheric carbon from the key greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2).
Carbon sequestration is the removal of carbon dioxide from the air by plants.
Carbon storage is the amount of carbon already bound up in the parts of woody vegetation.
Trees reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere by sequestering carbon in new growth every year. As a tree grows, it stores more carbon by holding it in its accumulated tissue. The amount of carbon annually sequestered is increased with the size and health of the trees. Open-grown, maintained trees, which are common in urban areas, tend to have less biomass than trees naturally growing in forested areas.
As a tree dies and decays, it releases much of the stored carbon back into the atmosphere. Thus, carbon storage can also be thought of as the amount of carbon that can be released if trees are allowed to die and decompose. Trees can also indirectly influence the amount of carbon dioxide emissions by regulating the temperatures of buildings and thus affecting energy use.
Carbon storage and sequestration benefits are closely tied to the area of the park that is forested and less impacted by a park’s surroundings. In total, the NCA forests analyzed take up about 33.9 thousand metric tons of carbon in new growth every year. To calculate current carbon storage, biomass for each tree was calculated by the i-Tree programs. Carbon sequestration is gross, not net amounts.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that the United States has the geologic formations to store approximately 3,000 metric gigatons of carbon dioxide.
The amount of carbon stored in forests is important for several reasons. A net change in forest biomass can indicate whether forest ecosystems are stable, growing, or declining. Carbon storage is closely related to other vital ecological processes such as primary productivity.
One of the best tree species for absorbing carbon is oaks, thanks to their large canopies, dense wood and long lifespans. Other top carbon-absorbing trees include the common horse-chestnut, black Walnut, London plane, and American sweetgum. However, variety is best.
Most of Earth's carbon is stored in rocks and sediments. The rest is located in the ocean, atmosphere, and in living organisms. These are the reservoirs through which carbon cycles. Carbon dioxide concentrations are rising mostly because of the fossil fuels that people are burning for energy.
The largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities in the United States is from burning fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation. EPA tracks total U.S. emissions by publishing the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks.
The state with the highest total carbon dioxide emissions is Texas and the lowest is Vermont. The state with the highest per capita carbon dioxide emissions is Wyoming and the lowest is New York.
However, it also has its drawbacks, including high costs, energy intensity, environmental risks, and limited scale. While policymakers and industry leaders continue to explore the potential of CCS, it is important to consider these pros and cons and weigh the benefits against the costs.
For trees that sequester the most carbon in the soil, the oak tree is the clear winner. Because oaks have deep and expansive root systems they can store carbon deep in the soil, which helps to keep it out of the atmosphere. Carbon trees can also capture other gases besides carbon dioxide.
In fact, soils are the largest on-land carbon pool on the planet! In 2021, forest soils stored slightly more than half of all the carbon stored in forest carbon pools in the lower 48 and Alaska!
Some management approaches that can increase carbon removal by trees and forests include: Reforestation, or restoring forest ecosystems after they've been damaged by wildfire or cleared for agricultural or commercial uses.
Indeed, thee bamboo absorbs 5 times more greenhouse gases and produces 35% more oxygen than an equivalent volume of trees! It has a very important CO2 retention capacity since one hectare of bamboo grove can capture up to 60 tons of CO2 each year. And these are not the only benefits of bamboo!
The giant redwoods of Northern California, which store seven times as much, are regarded as the most carbon dense forests in the world. The temperate rainforest is a “carbon storage powerhouse,” says John Talberth of the Portland, Ore.
Forests around the world are estimated to absorb about 7.6 billion metric tons, acting as a net carbon sink of roughly 1.5 times the annual emissions from the entire United States.
The Amazon is estimated to contain about 123 billion tons of carbon above and below ground, and is one of Earth's most important terrestrial carbon reserves.
As per India State of the Forest Report (ISFR) 2021, total carbon stock in forest is estimated as 7,204 million tonnes which include 529.47 million tonnes of carbon stock in plantation/ Trees Outside Forest.
Introduction: My name is Lidia Grady, I am a thankful, fine, glamorous, lucky, lively, pleasant, shiny person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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