Can planted forests counteract increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide

Journal Article · · Journal of Environmental Quality; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq1991.00472425002000020003x· OSTI ID:5227028

Vitousek, P M ^[1]

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1. Stanford Univ., CA (USA)

Establishing new forests has been widely suggested as a means to prevent, reduce, or delay fossil fuel-driven increases in CO{sub 2} concentrations in the atmosphere. This analysis examines the potential magnitude of C storage in biomass, emphasizing the amount of land area that could be planted to trees, the rates of C storage in developing forest plantations, and the fate of material harvested from forests. The author concludes that while converting old-growth forests to plantations is a losing proposition, there may be sufficient formerly forested land and the possibility of sufficiently high rates of C storage in young tree plantations that reforestation could remove substantial quantities of C from the atmosphere ({approx gt} Pg yr{sup {minus}1}). However, rapid net C storage is a short-lived phenomenon, and it is unlikely that a substantial fraction of material harvested from plantations can go into long-term storage on land. Therefore, new green plantations designed to store C can at best cause a brief delay in the accumulation of CO{sub 2} in the atmosphere. Forest plantations designed to produce energy from biomass would represent a longer-term contribution to reducing rates of CO{sub 2} accumulation - as long as they replaced fossil fuel-derived energy.

• OSTI ID: 5227028
• Journal Information: Journal of Environmental Quality; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Environmental Quality; (United States) Vol. 20:2; ISSN JEVQA; ISSN 0047-2425
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
560300* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
BIOMASS PLANTATIONS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON CYCLE
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON DIOXIDE FIXATION
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMISTRY
CLIMATIC CHANGE
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
FORESTS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOCHEMISTRY
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANTS
TREES
WOOD FUELS