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Study: Pacific Northwest Forests Indispensable for Climate Stability
PNW forests contain Earth’s rare “irrecoverable carbon” stores
Arlington, VA (November 18, 2021) – The old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest are essential for
global climate stability, according to new research out today from Conservation International that maps
the places on Earth that humanity must protect to avoid a climate catastrophe. These ecosystems
contain what researchers call “irrecoverable carbon,” dense stores of carbon that, if released due tohuman activity, could not be recovered in time for the world to prevent the most dangerous impacts ofclimate change.
The new worldwide map, published today in the journal Nature Sustainability, builds on a landmark
study that introduced the concept of irrecoverable carbon. The research finds that half of Earth’s
irrecoverable carbon is highly concentrated on just 3.3% of land – primarily mangroves, peatlands andold growth forests, like those found in Pacific Northwest. Globally, these vast reserves of carbon areequivalent to 15 times the global fossil fuel emissions released last year.
According to the study, the temperate forests of northwestern North America contain 5.0 Gt ofirrecoverable carbon – equivalent to about three times the United States’ annual emissions – and havesome of the highest concentrations of irrecoverable carbon worldwide. The forests of the PacificNorthwest form a unique ecosystem that combines all the trappings of a rainforest — mist, daily rainfall,hanging vegetation — with temperate species.
Researchers say that knowing which ecosystems contain the greatest irrecoverable carbon stores canhelp governments focus global efforts to protect 30% of land by 2030. Targeted conservation would
yield big gains – protecting just 5.4% of lands high in irrecoverable carbon, in addition to the amountcurrently within protected areas, would keep 75% percent of Earth’s irrecoverable carbon from being
released into the atmosphere, researchers found.
“Knowing that this region’s old-growth forests are quietly storing billions of metric tons of carbon shouldmake their conservation an essential part of the United States’ and Canada’s national climate
strategies,” said Allie Goldstein, a co-author on the study, Seattle resident and Conservation
International’s director of climate protection. “These forests go beyond housing endangered animalspecies and driving local economies – they are essential for global climate stability and must berecognized now for their strategic value, especially as these ecosystems may need our help to adapt toclimate change impacts such as heat, fire and changing rainfall.”An accompanying report, also released today, reveals that many of these irrecoverable carbon areas
overlap with places containing high concentrations of biodiversity – meaning that protecting lands
essential for climate stability would also conserve habitats for thousands of mammal, bird, amphibianand reptile species. The paper calls for the creation of “irrecoverable carbon reserves,” new, area-based
conservation measures designed to ensure irrecoverable carbon remains in these critical ecosystems.
According to the Nature Sustainability study, the largest and highest-density irrecoverable carbon
ecosystems, in addition to the Pacific Northwest, include••••

The tropical forests and peatlands of the Amazon biome (31.5 Gigatonnes irrecoverable carbon);
The Congo Basin (8.2 Gigatonnes);
Islands of Southeast Asia (13.1 Gigatonnes);
Mangroves, seagrasses and tidal wetlands globally (4.8 Gigatonnes).

The study also details how vulnerable irrecoverable carbon areas are to human activity and climatechange – and how much irrecoverable carbon is stored within Indigenous and protected lands. Thesekey findings include••

More than a third of irrecoverable carbon (46.7 billion Gigatonnes) is stored within thegovernment-recognized lands of Indigenous peoples and local communities;
Across ecosystems, the highest concentrations of irrecoverable carbon are found in mangroves(218 tonnes per hectare, on average), tropical peatlands (193 t/ha) and boreal wetlands (173t/ha).

An appendix is attached to this release with irrecoverable carbon breakdowns by country, continent andecosystem.
“The consequences of releasing this stored carbon would stretch on for generations, undermining ourlast chance to stabilize Earth’s climate at tolerable levels for nature and humanity,” said JohanRockström, Conservation International chief scientist and co-director of the Potsdam Institute for
Climate Impact Research, a leader in climate and sustainability research. “We must act now to safeguard
the planet’s ability to serve as a carbon sink, which includes prioritizing these unique ecosystems.”
In the last decade alone, agriculture, logging and wildfires have released at least 4 gigatonnes ofirrecoverable carbon, equal to 5% of human-caused fossil fuel emissions over that time, the study
reveals. Threats to irrecoverable carbon vary by ecosystem and location, researchers noted, but themost imminent and widespread risks come from legal rollbacks to protected areas that shrink oreliminate existing protections, land use changes for agriculture or development or climate-changedriven events such as forest fires or extreme weather.
While the Pacific Northwest’s forests, for example, once stretched from Northern California tosoutheastern Alaska, they have been heavily deforested, mostly by large-scale industrial logging, leaving
much of the protected old growth confined to designated areas such as Olympic National Park , and thelands of tribes and First Nations.
“We have less than 10 years to cut emissions in half and prevent our climate and biodiversity fromreaching an irreversible tipping point,” said Monica Noon, a Conservation International scientist and thestudy’s lead author. “The good news is that we haven’t yet reached that threshold. This is a rare
scenario in which we have the time and information needed to prevent environmental disaster before ithappens. Our research shows that investing in irrecoverable carbon reserves is a win-win-win approachthat can improve the health of our climate, the health of Earth’s species and, ultimately, the health ofhumanity.”
Susan Cook-Patton, a coauthor of the paper and senior forest restoration scientist with The Nature
Conservancy said that, “given the strengthened commitments that need to come out of the Glasgow
UNFCCC COP this year, this global map represents a valuable addition to the science toolkit for climate
policymakers. It is especially critical that governments fast-track protection of irrecoverable carbon
stores that are at imminent threat of irreparable damage. This map can help find those locations before
it’s too late.”
To secure the benefits of irrecoverable carbon, the study’s authors recommend•••••

Supporting Indigenous peoples and communities, who manage more than a third of Earth’s
irrecoverable carbon but face increasing threats to their lands;
Immediately reversing policies and practices that threaten Earth’s last remaining irrecoverable
carbon reserves;
Expanding the area of irrecoverable-carbon lands under conservation, through protected areas
as well as Indigenous and community-led conservation measures;
Prioritizing areas with high concentrations of irrecoverable carbon in strategies from national
governments and multilateral funders such as the Global Environmental Facility, Green Climate
Fund and World Bank;
Designing comprehensive and collaborative land use planning practices that promotesustainable development and climate change resilience, such as fire and pest management andprotecting coastal and freshwater wetlands to reduce flooding and storm surges.

To read the entire study authored by scientists from Conservation International, The NatureConservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison, click here.
For additional information and to view some of the study’s maps, visit the irrecoverable carbon landing
page here.
###About Conservation International
Conservation International works to protect the critical benefits that nature provides to people. Throughscience, partnerships and fieldwork, Conservation International is driving innovation and investments innature-based solutions to the climate crisis, supporting protections for critical habitats, and fostering
economic development that is grounded in the conservation of nature. Conservation International
works in 30 countries around the world, empowering societies at all levels to create a cleaner, healthierand more sustainable planet. Follow Conservation International's work on Conservation
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