TY - JOUR
T1 - Global congruence of carbon storage and biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems
AU - Strassburg, Bernardo B. N.
AU - Kelly, Annabel
AU - Balmford, Andrew
AU - Davies, Richard G.
AU - Gibbs, Holly K.
AU - Lovett, Andrew
AU - Miles, Lera
AU - Orme, C. David L.
AU - Price, Jeff
AU - Turner, R. Kerry
AU - Rodrigues, Ana S. L.
PY - 2010/4
Y1 - 2010/4
N2 - Deforestation is a main driver of climate change and biodiversity loss. An incentive mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) is being negotiated under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Here we use the best available global data sets on terrestrial biodiversity and carbon storage to map and investigate potential synergies between carbon and biodiversity-oriented conservation. A strong association (rS= 0.82) between carbon stocks and species richness suggests that such synergies would be high, but unevenly distributed. Many areas of high value for biodiversity could be protected by carbon-based conservation, while others could benefit from complementary funding arising from their carbon content. Some high-biodiversity regions, however, would not benefit from carbon-focused conservation, and could become under increased pressure if REDD is implemented. Our results suggest that additional gains for biodiversity conservation are possible, without compromising the effectiveness for climate change mitigation, if REDD takes biodiversity distribution into account.
AB - Deforestation is a main driver of climate change and biodiversity loss. An incentive mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) is being negotiated under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Here we use the best available global data sets on terrestrial biodiversity and carbon storage to map and investigate potential synergies between carbon and biodiversity-oriented conservation. A strong association (rS= 0.82) between carbon stocks and species richness suggests that such synergies would be high, but unevenly distributed. Many areas of high value for biodiversity could be protected by carbon-based conservation, while others could benefit from complementary funding arising from their carbon content. Some high-biodiversity regions, however, would not benefit from carbon-focused conservation, and could become under increased pressure if REDD is implemented. Our results suggest that additional gains for biodiversity conservation are possible, without compromising the effectiveness for climate change mitigation, if REDD takes biodiversity distribution into account.
U2 - 10.1111/j.1755-263X.2009.00092.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1755-263X.2009.00092.x
M3 - Article
VL - 3
SP - 98
EP - 105
JO - Conservation Letters
JF - Conservation Letters
SN - 1755-263X
IS - 2
ER -