Map Projection

Interrupted Goode's Homolosine

Notes

Olson's estimates of both low and high carbon storage values are expressed as a range (metric tons of carbon per hectare). The map shows storage values at the high end of the range. Carbon storage values in vegetation in the tropics reach a maximum of 250 metric tons per hectare.

Map Description

Each year, as forests grow and increase their biomass, they absorb carbon from the atmosphere and store it in plant tissue. This process is known as carbon sequestration. Despite constant exchanges of carbon between forest biomass, soils, and the atmosphere (see below), a large amount is always present in leaves and woody tissue, roots, and soil nutrients. This quantity of carbon is known as the carbon store. Carbon sequestration and storage slow the rate at which carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere and mitigate global warming. Trees and forest soils together sequester and store more carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem, and constitute an important natural defense against climate change. WRI has developed an estimate of the spatial distribution of global carbon stores in terrestrial ecosystems (forests, grasslands, agroecosystems, and other). This map shows our estimate of carbon storage in the world’s above- and below-ground live vegetation, mapped at a 10-km resolution. Above- and below-ground live vegetation includes woody tissue, leaves, fruits, flowers and root systems. The data on which the map is based (Olson et al., 1983) provide estimates of carbon storage values as a low-to-high range, in metric tons of carbon per hectare; the map depicts storage values at the high end of the range. It is immediately apparent that the greatest carbon stores in live vegetation are found in the tropical and boreal forests. Temperate forests and tropical savannas also store significant quantities of carbon in their vegetation.