Central African biomass carbon losses and gains during 2010–2019

authored by

Zhe Zhao, Philippe Ciais, Jean Pierre Wigneron, Maurizio Santoro, Martin Brandt, Fritz Kleinschroth, Simon L. Lewis, Jerome Chave, Rasmus Fensholt, Nadine Laporte, Denis Jean Sonwa, Sassan S. Saatchi, Lei Fan, Hui Yang, Xiaojun Li, Mengjia Wang, Lei Zhu, Yidi Xu, Jiaying He, Wei Li

Abstract

Disturbance, vegetation productivity, and recovery are crucial for aboveground biomass carbon (AGC) dynamics. Here, we use multiple satellite-based datasets to analyze the drivers of AGC dynamics in Central Africa. During 2010–2019, deforestation induced a gross AGC loss of 102.2 ± 17.1 Tg C year⁻¹, which was counterbalanced by an AGC increase of 116.9 ± 41.1 Tg C year⁻¹, leading to a net gain of 14.6 ± 3.8 Tg C year⁻¹. Compared to anthropogenic and soil factors, changes in climate-related factors (e.g., radiation) are more important for the non-deforestation AGC changes. A large AGC increase was found in the northern savannas. In moist forests, strong biomass recovery and growth largely compensated the carbon loss from deforestation and degradation. Considering the increasing resource demand due to rapid population growth, reconciling natural conservation and economic development in Central Africa remains challenging and depends on climate changes and country-specific social-economic conditions.

External Organisation(s)

Tsinghua University
Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (MOE)
Université Paris-Saclay
The Cyprus Institute
Universite de Bordeaux
Gamma Remote Sensing Research and Consulting AG
University of Copenhagen
ETH Zurich
University of Leeds
University College London (UCL)
Universite Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3)
Northern Arizona University
Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
California Institute of Caltech (Caltech)
Southwest University
Max Planck Institute of Biogeochemistry (MPI-BGC)
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling

Type

Article

Journal

One Earth

Volume

7

Pages

506-519

No. of pages

14

ISSN

2590-3330

Publication date

15.03.2024

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Environmental Science(all), Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 13 - Climate Action

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2024.01.021 (Access: Closed)