Global Carbon Storage in Above- and Below-Ground Live Vegetation
| Analytical Overview |
| WRI’s estimates of carbon stored in above- and below-ground live vegetation are based on those developed by Olson et al. (1983). However, instead of following the vegetation map used by Olson, we applied Olson’s estimates to the more recent Global Land Cover Characteristics Database (GLCCD, 1998). The U.S. EROS Data Center (EDC) provided WRI with a match between Olson’s low and high estimates of carbon storage values for ecosystem complexes, and a vegetation map based on the GLCCD. The low and high estimates of carbon content in the main ecosystem complexes span all the vegetation types that may be found within each ecosystem. We acknowledge that Olson’s estimates of carbon storage in vegetation have, in some cases, been superseded by more recent studies at the national and regional level. The advantage of the methodology adopted here is that Olson still provides the only consistent set of carbon storage estimates for vegetation types at the global level. This approach yielded an estimate of 268-901 billion tons of carbon stored in the world’s above- and below-ground live vegetation. |
Map Projection
Interrupted Goode's Homolosine
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.
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Citation:
World Resources Institute - PAGE, 2000
Sources:
- GLCCD, 1998. Loveland, T.R., B.C. Reed, J.F. Brown, D.O. Ohlen, Z. Zhu, L. Yang, and J. Merchant. 1998. "Development of a Global Land Cover Characteristics Database and IGBP DISCover from 1-km AVHRR Data" In International Journal of Remote Sensing21(6-7): 1303-1330.
Available On-line at: Source Link.Global Land Cover Characteristics Database, Version 1.2.. - Olson, J.S., J.A. Watts, and L.J. Allison. 1983, Carbon in Live Vegetation of Major World Ecosystems. Oak Ridge, TN: Oak Ridge National Laboratory.