Washington, Dec 13 (Inditop.com) Forests and soils in the US could soak up additional quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) and mitigate climate change, says a new estimate.
The 48 US states can potentially store an additional three to seven billion tonnes of carbon, if farmlands were converted into forests. This is equivalent to two to four years of its current CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels.
US Geological Survey (USGS) scientists also found that the country stores 73 billion metric tonnes of carbon in soils and 17 billion metric tons in forests.
This is equivalent to more than 50 years of America’s current CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels. This shows the need to protect existing carbon stores to prevent additional warming and future harm to ecosystems.
America’s forests and soils are unable to soak up its accelerating pace of emissions, absorbing about half billion tonnes of carbon of the nation’s fossil fuel emissions at 1.6 billion tonnes every year, according to USGS release.
Enhancing the carbon storage capacity of America’s and the world’s ecosystems is an important tool to reduce carbon emissions and help ecosystems adapt to changing climate conditions.
“The tools the USGS is developing-and the technologies behind those tools-will be of great use to communities around the world that are making management decisions on carbon storage,” said USGS director Marcia McNutt.
