As nations across the world scramble to identify and implement strategies for stifling climate change, a new study finds improved land stewardship presents an undervalued avenue for both storing and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

A team of scientists finds that updated land management practices could bolster international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also meeting the global demand for food and fiber, the researchers report Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The team’s findings suggest that natural climate solutions, as outlined by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, can be expanded significantly by programs that focus on the large-scale protection and restoration of forests, farmland and grasslands.

Accounting for financial constraints, the researchers calculate that natural climate change mitigation pathways could reduce emissions by 11.3 billion tons a year by 2030, or 37 percent of the reductions needed to keep global warming below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit – the central objective of the Paris climate agreement. [Read more…]