Restoring Wildflowers, Wetlands and Wildlife

Grasslands hold large stocks of carbon, largely underground. Protecting them shields their carbon stores and avoids emissions from conversion to agricultural land or development.

 

Protection of non-degraded 369.3-403.2million hectares of intact grasslands from 159 million hectares could avoid carbon dioxide emissions totaling 3.4-4.3gigatons by 2050, securing an estimated protected stock of 34-37 gigatons of carbon, roughly equivalent to over 124-136 gigatons of carbon dioxide if released into the atmosphere.

If we increase the total area of protected or rewetted peatlands from 8.84 million hectares to 302.69–491.21 million hectares, we can avoid some 25.40–40.27 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.

By protecting an additional 335–466 million hectares of forest, we could avoid 5.55–8.83 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 2050. Perhaps more importantly, this solution could bring the total protected forest area to almost 0.99–1.1 billion hectares, securing an estimated protected stock of 179–203 gigatons of carbon, roughly equivalent to more than 655–743 gigatons of carbon dioxide if released into the atmosphere.