Widespread expansion of agriculture and forestry has altered the surface of the Earth, the composition of the atmosphere, and as a result, the climate. Here we quantify the radiative forcing caused by the deforestation of an ecoregion of the U.S. Upper Midwest and the adoption of eight nature-based climate solutions. We combined forest inventory data with over three decades of remote sensing and in situ data from a replicated land use change experiment. Deforestation of the region caused net global warming (1626 ± 44 µW m-2), mainly from the 76 % reduction of ecosystem carbon stocks, but also from the 84 % reduction of the soil methane sink and the 115 % increase in soil nitrous oxide emissions. The associated albedo increase offset 24 % of the greenhouse gas induced warming. For the adoption of nature-based climate solutions, we found that conservation agriculture provided a modest -39 to -76 ± 31 µW m-2 of climate mitigation, short/medium length forestry rotations provided more at -296 to -881 ± 44 µW m-2, and natural forest regeneration provided the most at -1555 ± 44 µW m-2. As the impacts of climate change on nature and society intensify, consideration should be given to the climate mitigation, habitat, and ecosystem services that nature-based climate solutions can provide.
Data and code for: Nature-based climate solutions can help mitigate the radiative forcing that follows deforestation
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