Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Nat Ecol Evol. 2023 Jul;7(7):1104-1113. doi: 10.1038/s41559-023-02069-x. Epub 2023 May 25.
Biodiversity conservation is increasingly being recognized as an important co-benefit in climate change mitigation programmes that use nature-based climate solutions. However, the climate co-benefits of biodiversity conservation interventions, such as habitat protection and restoration, remain understudied. Here we estimate the forest carbon storage co-benefits of a national policy intervention for tiger (Panthera tigris) conservation in India. We used a synthetic control approach to model avoided forest loss and associated carbon emissions reductions in protected areas that underwent enhanced protection for tiger conservation. Over a third of the analysed reserves showed significant but mixed effects, where 24% of all reserves successfully reduced the rate of deforestation and the remaining 9% reported higher-than-expected forest loss. The policy had a net positive benefit with over 5,802 hectares of averted forest loss, corresponding to avoided emissions of 1.08 ± 0.51 MtCO equivalent between 2007 and 2020. This translated to US$92.55 ± 43.56 million in ecosystem services from the avoided social cost of emissions and potential revenue of US$6.24 ± 2.94 million in carbon offsets. Our findings offer an approach to quantitatively track the carbon sequestration co-benefits of a species conservation strategy and thus help align the objectives of climate action and biodiversity conservation.
生物多样性保护在越来越多的基于自然的气候解决方案的气候变化缓解计划中被视为一个重要的附带效益。然而,生物多样性保护干预措施(如栖息地保护和恢复)的气候附带效益仍研究不足。在这里,我们估计了印度一项老虎( Panthera tigris )保护国家政策干预的森林碳储存附带效益。我们使用综合控制方法来模拟保护区避免的森林损失和相关的碳减排,这些保护区为了老虎保护而加强了保护。在分析的保护区中,超过三分之一的保护区显示出显著但混合的效果,其中 24%的保护区成功降低了森林砍伐率,而其余 9%的保护区报告了高于预期的森林损失。该政策带来了积极的净效益,避免了超过 5802 公顷的森林损失,相当于在 2007 年至 2020 年期间避免了 1.08±0.51 兆吨二氧化碳当量的排放,这相当于避免排放的社会成本带来的 92.55±43.56 百万美元的生态系统服务价值和 6.24±2.94 百万美元的碳抵消潜在收入。我们的研究结果提供了一种定量跟踪物种保护策略的碳固存附带效益的方法,从而有助于使气候行动和生物多样性保护的目标保持一致。