Nature-Based Carbon Removal: Forests in Focus
Triple Pundit reports that while forests are powerful carbon sinks, trees alone won’t meet climate targets. Researchers recommend pairing reforestation with tech-based carbon removal to boost effectiveness and handle biodiversity and land-use trade-offs.
Zurich Insurance echoes this, calling reforestation a promising but partial solution. It emphasizes that forest carbon efforts must be part of broader climate strategies and involve strong partnerships across sectors.
The Economist explores how voluntary carbon markets could help save the Amazon. While promising, concerns around verification and greenwashing highlight the need for high-integrity credits and community engagement.
Mongabay stresses the role of Indigenous lands in carbon retention. Their stewardship offers a low-deforestation model that deserves more support through carbon markets.
Farmers Review Africa highlights tree-planting projects in Africa that blend carbon removal with job creation, food security, and sustainable agriculture.
Corporate Moves & National Strategies
Microsoft is backing verified reforestation projects as part of its carbon removal goals, aiming to set a precedent for other big players.
Reuters adds that Microsoft’s project in Panama also supports biodiversity and local livelihoods, showing how corporate action can have ripple effects beyond CO₂ removal.
Arab News covers Saudi Arabia’s massive afforestation plans under the Saudi Green Initiative, aimed at tackling desertification and boosting carbon sinks using smart irrigation and global partnerships.
Innovation & Ecosystem Health
Mongabay reminds us that forests can store huge amounts of carbon—but only if we also reduce emissions. High-emission scenarios could limit their potential.
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change finds that older, biodiverse forests lock in more carbon. The takeaway? Protect what we already have and reforest with long-term ecosystem health in mind.
The Conversation introduces a newly developed engineered wood from University of Cambridge research, which could help store more carbon in buildings by replacing high-emission materials like concrete.
Financing Forests: Policy & Carbon Markets
Chemistry World looks at India’s forest policy and its carbon sink ambitions, identifying the need for stronger legal frameworks and local incentives to scale community-driven efforts.
Trellis breaks down what drives carbon credit pricing in early reforestation projects—from species selection to project scale. Knowing these factors helps unlock more funding for harder-to-reach areas.
GK Today and The Straits Times report that the World Bank has issued the first-ever carbon removal bond to support Amazon reforestation—a bold new model for climate finance.
Emerging Risks & Regional Realities
The Guardian warns that unchecked warming could weaken natural carbon sinks like forests and peatlands, undermining global climate targets. Emissions cuts are essential to keep these systems working.
Space Daily highlights how planting trees in the Arctic might actually worsen warming by disrupting natural snow reflectivity. Smart site selection is key for afforestation projects.
University of Sheffield finds that dense, large-scale planting can deplete soil and reduce carbon storage over time. They recommend more targeted approaches that protect soil and favor biodiversity.
UNCCD is launching a new satellite observatory to track the impact of Africa’s Great Green Wall, helping ensure tree-planting efforts support both people and the planet.
Nation Thailand reports that Thailand’s net-zero strategy includes ramping up renewables and reforestation, blending nature-based solutions with clean energy investments.
Carbon Forestry 2025
Rotorua, New ZealandForests and the carbon cycle with Professor Rob MacKenzie and Professor Jerry Pritchard
In this podcast, Professors Rob MacKenzie and Jeremy Pritchard discuss the essential role of plants in sustaining life on Earth. From the benefits of urban trees to the innovative forest created by the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research, they explore how plants impact the global carbon cycle and contribute to healthier ecosystems.
Will the Amazon Rain Forest Help Save the Planet
A groundbreaking project in the Amazon is set to reveal whether rising carbon dioxide levels could support the forest's resilience as a major carbon sink. This unique experiment, the AmazonFACE project, has been a decade in the making, with setbacks and pauses, but now finally approaches a critical phase as its equipment goes live. Researchers hope to understand if increased CO2 can act as a form of “carbon fertilization,” potentially countering threats like rising temperatures and drought.
Climate scientists explain that the Amazon forest absorbs a significant portion of the CO2 released globally, mitigating climate change. However, factors like deforestation and a harsher climate pose serious risks to this natural system. If the forest's carbon absorption declines, this could accelerate warming. The experiment will test if the forest can maintain its carbon-storing ability under elevated CO2, providing essential data for future climate predictions.
Potential global sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide by semi arid forestation
This video explores the carbon sequestration potential of semi-arid forests, using research from Israel's Yatir Forest as a case study. Organic carbon sequestration is measured at 550 grams of CO2 per square metre annually, with additional contributions from inorganic sequestration, where soil calcite stores CO2 over millennia. If 20% of the world's semi-arid regions were reforested, up to 4 billion tons of CO2 could potentially be sequestered each year. Highlighting forestation as a viable, low-cost alternative to high-tech carbon capture methods, the video discusses challenges like biodiversity risks and policy implications, suggesting that sustainable semi-arid reforestation could mitigate climate change significantly if widely adopted.
The Science Behind Forest Carbon Sequestration - Nature - Based Solutions to Climate Change
This video explores the role of forest carbon sequestration as a nature-based solution to climate change, featuring insights from forestry experts at Cornell University and SUNY. Viewers gain an understanding of New York's forest history and the influence of management practices on carbon sequestration. Key topics include sustainable silvicultural management techniques that enhance carbon storage, from reducing competition among trees to prolonging sequestration rates. The video also examines how harvested wood products contribute to carbon storage and the climate benefits of using forest products. The speakers discuss challenges such as forest degradation, natural disturbances, and the potential of species like the American chestnut in increasing sequestration, emphasising the importance of science-based policy mechanisms.
Understanding Leakage in Forest Carbon Projects - Insights from the Global Timber Model
This webinar provides an in-depth look at leakage in forest carbon projects, focusing on its economic and environmental impacts. Experts discuss the dynamics of leakage, where project actions unintentionally influence land management outside project boundaries, affecting carbon stocks. The session introduces the Global Timber Model (GTM) as a tool for accurately estimating leakage by analysing factors like market signals, project type, and forest density. Key concepts include the economic spillover effects of leakage, socio-economic repercussions, and the importance of price signals in influencing behaviour. The webinar emphasises a need for industry-wide frameworks and highlights collaborative approaches to address leakage and improve the viability of carbon projects globally.
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