IRRECOVERABLE
CARBON
THE PLACES WE MUST PROTECTTO AVERT CLIMATECATASTROPHE

Table of Contents
Foreword

3

Key Messages

7

Earth’s irrecoverable carbon

9

Science Summary

10What are Irrecoverable Carbon Reserves?

13

Allie Goldstein, Monica Noon, Juan Carlos Ledezma, Patrick
Roehrdanz, Shyla Raghav, Michael McGreevey, Chris Stone,
Sushma Shrestha, Rachel Golden Kroner, David Hole, Will Turner
Design by Tim NovielloGraphics by Sarah Streyle

Why do we need them?

14

Why now?

15

Four foundational principles of Irrecoverable Carbon Reserves

16

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5706060

Examples of the principles

17

Cover Photo Credit: © Kevin Dinkel/Flickr Creative Commons

19

The Places We Cannot A ord to Lose

Foreword by M. Sanjayan

Amazonia

20

Note: This report accompanies and offers more insights behindthe peer-reviewed study, "Mapping the irrecoverable carbon in
Earth's ecosystems", published in Nature Sustainability (2021).

Congo Basin21

You can read the scientific study here: https://www.nature.com/

New Guinea

21

articles/s41893-021-00803-6

Other important irrecoverable carbon places

22

Irrecoverable Carbon and Irreplaceable Biodiversity

24

Current Protection Status of Earth’s Irrecoverable Carbon

26

Protected areas

28

PADDD in irrecoverable carbon lands

29

Indigenous and community lands

30

Recent Loss
Key drivers of irrecoverable carbon loss

31
33

Future risks

34

Conclusion and Recommendations

37

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Authors:

The last year has been dominated by shortages — a shortage ofcoronavirus vaccines; a shortage of water in arid regions; and in
the wake of new climate research, a shortage of optimism.
In September, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) released their Sixth Assessment Report, which o ered atroubling prognosis: the climate crisis has already arrived, and by
the time my two-year-old daughter is in college, Earth will havealready exceeded the 1.5°C threshold established by the Paris
Agreement. But truthfully, many of us didn’t need a 4,000-page
report to tell us what we could already see with our own eyes,
hear with our ears, and smell with our noses. Wild re, storms, andoods have devastated places we love and call home — andaccording to the IPCC, extreme weather will only become morecommon.
But the Panel’s report also o ered reasons for hope. Nature isresilient. We still have a window to make an immense di erence.
And if we can cut global emissions, our climate will stabilize withina few decades. Those models, however, are built upon a key
assumption: that the health of our carbon-storing biosphere does
not deteriorate any further. Unfortunately, nature is under assault
around the world. More than any other report I’ve read, the IPCC
assessment made clear that must take immediate, targeted action
to protect what remains, and restore what’s been lost.

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At Conservation International, we’re focused on research that not
only enhances our understanding of the world, but also o ers
actionable data for policymakers and eld professionals. In thisreport, you’ll nd a comprehensive atlas of the world’s
irrecoverable carbon reserves: ecosystems that, if destroyed,
could quietly bust our carbon budget. Though many of theseareas are at risk of degradation by agriculture, mining, and othercommercial activities, the good news is they’re also highly
concentrated — and that gives us a ghting chance of meeting

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Foreword
our climate targets. With irrecoverable carbon, we have a rareopportunity to make a global di erence with relatively small-scalee orts: preserving an additional 5.4 percent of the Earth’s surface
would safeguard 75 percent of the world’s reserves. If we lose
these areas, however, we have no hope of recovering.
No doubt, the challenge ahead of us is daunting: halving
emissions each decade, preventing the loss of carbon stored innatural reservoirs, and protecting 30 percent of the Earth’s landand ocean by 2030. But we aren’t alone in this ght. Indigenous
peoples, ambitious governments, enlightened corporations, andother nonpro ts are rallying around the idea that protecting natureis crucial to life on Earth. As we look to meet ambitious goals withnite resources, the future of conservation will be de ned by
precision, and this research will fundamentally reshape howhumanity prioritizes areas for protection and restoration.
These ndings are a gift, and I hope you’re as energized by themas I am.
With gratitude,

Dr. M. Sanjayan
Chief Executive O cer
Conservation International

3

“We have growing evidence that the nal
battleground — whether we fail or succeed
in delivering the Paris Climate Agreementof holding the 1.5 degrees Celsius global
warming line — is not only whether we areable to get o fossil fuels, it is also
whether we are able to safeguard carbon
stores in nature. Here, we provide the rst
global assessment of the ecosystems that
hold our future in their hands.”

Johan Rockström
Chief Scientist at Conservation
International & Director of the
Potsdam Institute for Climate
Impact Research

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PHOTO: M. AXELSSON/AZOTE

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“Here are the places in nature that we cannot
a ord to lose if we’re going to stabilize ourclimate. They are mangroves, wetlands, peat
lands, and páramos, old-growth forests, andother special landscapes that hold enormous
amounts of climate-altering greenhouse gases
collected over hundreds of years or more. It
would be devastating for the planet to lose thecarbon stored in these ecosystems. This report
is an important guide as we work to protect
climate-critical places and make targeted

Carlos Manuel Rodriguez
CEO and Chairperson of the
Global Environment Facility

investment in nature’s most important,irreplaceable ecosystems.”

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PHOTO: GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY

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“At least a third of Earth’s irrecoverable
carbon is managed by Indigenous
peoples and local communities. This
paper presents the way for new
collaboration and approaches as equal
partners to better protect these vitallandscapes to continue providing theircritical carbon storage andsequestration functions well into thenext century and beyond.”

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim
President of the Association
for Indigenous Women andPeoples of Chad andConservation International
Board Member

PHOTO: © CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL

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Key Messages

Key Messages• “Irrecoverable carbon” refers to thevast stores of carbon in nature that arevulnerable to release from human activity
and, if lost, could not be restored by 2050
— when the world must reach net-zeroemissions to avoid the worst impacts ofclimate change.
• There are high concentrations ofirrecoverable carbon in the Amazon(31.5 Gt), the Congo Basin (8.1 Gt), and
New Guinea (7.3 Gt). Other important
irrecoverable carbon reserves are located in
the Pacific Northwest of North America, theValdivian forests of Chile, the mangroves
and swamp forests of Guyana, the peatlandsof Northern Scotland, Niger Delta’s
mangroves, Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake, theScandinavian and Siberian boreal forests,
and the eucalyptus forest of Southeast
Australia, among others.
• If deforestation continues at current rates,
at least 10% of global irrecoverable carbon
stocks could be gone by 2050. However,the spatial distribution, types and pace of
future risks cannot simply be extrapolated
from historical trends. Deforestation frontiers
can shift due to unpredictable market or
political forces, and climate change canthreaten previously “secure” areas. Proactive
monitoring and management is needed toensure that Earth’s irrecoverable carbon issafeguarded over the coming decades.

139
BILLIONMETRIC

M
E
X
I
C
O

TONS (GT C)

+

INDIA

Globally,

We mapped irrecoverable carbon
globally and found that Earth’s
ecosystems containhalf of the world’s irrecoverable
carbon is found on just 3.3%of its land area

139 billion metric tons (Gt C),
equivalent to 15 years’ worth
of fossil fuel emissions.

(4.9 million km2), roughly equivalent to the
combined land mass of India and Mexico.

Protected areas
Indigenous peoples’ andlocal communities’ lands

34%

23%
8.5%

More than one-third of irrecoverable carbon (47 Gt) is found within Indigenous andlocal communities’ lands and 23% (32 Gt) is within protected areas.

More than half of irrecoverable carbon (52% or 72 Gt) lies outside of protected areas or Indigenous andlocal communities’ management and stewardship.

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Key Messages• While protected area designations do
not guarantee conservation outcomes,
well-managed, legally protected areas
reduce tropical deforestation and its
associated carbon emissions. Similarly,
lands managed by Indigenous peoples andlocal communities have significantly lower
deforestation rates and can secure carbon
stocks over time.
• Globally, half of the world’s irrecoverable
carbon is found on just 3.3% of its land area
(4.9 million km2), roughly equivalent to the
combined land mass of India and Mexico.
This means that mobilizing resources toprotect a relatively small amount of land
— which holds a disproportionately large
amount of irrecoverable carbon — canhave significant returns for the climate,biodiversity and human well-being. Rapid
gains could be achieved by first focusing on
the areas with the highest concentrationsof irrecoverable carbon per hectare:peatlands, mangroves, tropical wetlands
and tropical forests.
• As countries come together to negotiate
a new Global Biodiversity Framework,
many governments have called for 30% ofland to be protected by 2030. Focusing
at least a portion of this global effort toexpanding land conservation in areas thatare essential for climate stability is a winwin strategy.

less than
14% ofEarth’sland area&

CONTAINS

75% of its
irrecoverable carbon

91% of its
vertebrate species

Like irrecoverable carbon, much of Earth’s biodiversity is highly concentrated. Overlaying
irrecoverable carbon with biodiversity data reveals ‘doubly irreplaceable’ areas, mainly in the tropics.

75+25+S

Less than 14% of Earth’s land area contains 75% of its irrecoverable carbon andprovides habitats for 91% of its vertebrate species.

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Gt C

75%

Over the past decade,at least 4 Gt of irrecoverable
carbon have been lost due toland-use change.
This is equivalent to roughly 5% offossil fuel emissions over that time
period. These places are vulnerable
and we are losing these invaluableareas at a rapid rate.

+

5.4%

The world could proactively secure

75% of irrecoverable carbon by protecting an
additional 5.4% of land (about 8 million km2)

beyond what is currently protected. This additional area
is roughly equivalent to the size of Australia.

8Earth's Irrecoverable Carbon

Irrecoverable Carbon
1

25

50

75

100

125+ (t/ha)

Figure 1: Irrecoverable Carbon in Earth’s ecosystems.
This map shows dense stores of ecosystem carbon which, if lost, could not be recovered by mid-century. From Noon et al. 2021. Mapping the irrecoverable carbon in Earth’s ecosystems. Nature
Sustainability.

An interactive version of the map is available at https://irrecoverable.resilienceatlas.org/

To avert climate catastrophe, there are ecosystems that we cannot a ord to destroy,
because they store vast amounts of carbon. Nature has absorbed more than half ofanthropogenic emissions to date, preventing at least 0.4° C of warming. To stay within the
1.5° C limit, there are some natural places that we simply cannot a ord to lose.

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Our team of scientists examined all ecosystems on Earth — from forests to grasslands tomangroves to tidal marshes — to identify this “irrecoverable carbon.” If lost, these carbon
stores could not be restored by 2050, the year by which we need to reach net-zeroemissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. But protecting theseecosystems is largely within our control.

139 billion metric tons. That's the amount of irrecoverable carbon we estimate
is stored in Earth's ecosystems. It's equivalent to about 15 years of fossil fuelemissions. To get this gure, we used the latest remote sensing technology andcombined data from various sources—including global maps of carbon stored invegetation and soil, as well as measurements of carbon sequestration rates
from more than 13,000 forest plots—into a global scale and high-resolution data
set.
While not all of these places are immediately threatened, many are being destroyed or
may become threatened in the years ahead. The fact that they’re “irrecoverable” meansthat we must 1) identify where they are and 2) proactively protect them before it’s too
late.

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Science Summary
The concept of irrecoverable carbon is intended to di erentiate among the billions of metric tons of carbon stored in the biosphere1
based on three criteria relevant for conservation e orts. We assess ecosystem carbon stocks according to: (a) how they can bein uenced by direct and local human action (“manageability”), (b) the magnitude of carbon lost upon disturbance (“vulnerability”), and(c) the recoverability of carbon stocks following loss (“recoverability”). Applying the three criteria across all terrestrial, coastal, andfreshwater ecosystems reveals that some places contain irrecoverable carbon, or manageable carbon stocks that, if lost, represent a
permanent debit from the remaining carbon budget,2 or the amount of carbon humans can emit while still keeping global warming
within safe levels (1.5 to 2 ºC above pre-Industrial levels).3 E ective strategies to reduce the risk of catastrophic climate change willneed to locate large irrecoverable carbon reserves that are at risk due to anthropogenic action and prioritize their conservation andsustainable management, alongside e orts to phase out fossil fuel emissions and restore degraded ecosystems.

We look at three dimensions of ecosystem carbon stocks to narrow
down the most important lands to conserve for the climate.

Manageability at
the local scale

Magnitude ofvulnerable carbon

Recoverability of
ecosystem carbon, if lost:Can people directly a ect theecosystem’s carbon stock?

How much of the ecosystem’s
carbon would be released tothe atmosphere if theecosystem were converted toanother land-use?

If lost, how much of the ecosystem’s carbon
could we get back?**30 years considered was considered the
key timeframe to consider given the need toreach net-zero emissions by mid-century

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Irrecoverable carbon = Vulnerable carbon – Recoverable carbon**de ned as sequestration in 30 years
Recoveryinitiated

Carbon density (tonnes/ha)

Conversion event

Biomass carbon

Recovery atyear 30

Irrecoverable biomass
carbon within 30 years

Vulnerable biomass
carbonBiomass carbon recovery

Irrecoverable soil carbon
within 30 years

Vulnerable soil carbon
Soil carbon recovery

Soil carbon

Stable soil carbon

Year 30

Year 0Time
Figure 2: Illustration of vulnerable and irrecoverable carbon in a hypothetical terrestrial ecosystem

This illustration shows the steps we followed for each pixel of our map. Figure adapted from Goldstein et al. 2020. Protecting the irrecoverable carbon in Earth’s ecosystems. Nature Climate Change.

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ONE
GENERATION

COAL

300 million
years in themakingPEAT

1,000+
years inthe making

the time remaining
to avert climate
catastrophe

Though the time it takes to sequester and store carbon in ecosystems is shorter than the time it takes tofossilize carbon as coal or oil, some ecosystems such as peatlands, mangroves and old-growth forests containcarbon that has been sequestered over decades or even centuries. Whether 300 million years in the making or
40, the atmosphere doesn’t care. Any ‘lost’ carbon, whether burned as fossil fuels or emitted due to land
conversion, that could not be re-sequestered within one human generation represents a permanent risk tohumanity. Just as many fossil fuels will need to remain in the ground to avert climate catastrophe, certain
ecosystems must be top priorities to protect this generation, since any loss will a ect the climate of future ones.

PHOTO: © CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL/PHOTO BY TORY READ

PHOTO: © CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL/PHOTO BY RUSSELL A. MITTERMEIER

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PHOTO: © VISIONSOFAMERICA/JOE SOHM

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WHAT ARE
IRRECOVERABLE
CARBONRESERVES?
Photo: © Pete Oxford/iLCP

What are Irrecoverable Carbon Reserves?
We seek to design and establish the next generation of protected areas as “Irrecoverable Carbon Reserves.” While these areas may be called di erent things in di erent
languages or contexts, and will be governed in diverse ways, the idea is the same: area-based conservation to secure the places with the most irrecoverable carbon.

Why do we need them?
Though these areas are critical to the long-term security of Earth’s climate, there has been limited concerted global e ort to protect them. This is a missed opportunity. Globally,half of the world’s irrecoverable carbon is found on just 3.3% of its land area (4.9 million km2), roughly equivalent to the combined land areas of India and Mexico. This means thate orts to secure irrecoverable carbon from current and future risks could make rapid gains by rst focusing on the areas with the highest concentrations of irrecoverable carbon
per hectare: peatlands, mangroves, tropical wetlands and tropical forests. The world could proactively secure 75% of our irrecoverable carbon by conserving just 5.4% ofadditional land (about 800 M hectares) beyond the land currently in protected areas. This additional area is about equivalent to the size of Australia.

Percentage of Global Irrecoverable Carbon

50%

Boreal forest

100%

Boreal wetland
Boreal & temperate grassland
Temperate forest
Temperate wetland

75%of the irrecoverable
carbon is in 3.3% of
the earth’s land area

Tropical & subtropical forest

50%

Tropical & subtropical grassland

75%

Tropical & subtropical wetland
Mangrove
Salt marsh & seagrass
Boreal & temperate peat25%

is in 7.5% of land area

Tropical & subtropical peat

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Percentage of Global Land Area

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Figure 3: The majority of Earth’s irrecoverable carbon is concentrated in a relatively small land area

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Figure adapted from Noon et al. 2021. Mapping the irrecoverable carbon in Earth’s ecosystems. Nature Sustainability.

Why now?
Expanding the protection of
irrecoverable carbon lands globally isboth a scienti c imperative and a timely
political opportunity. As countries arecoming together in 2021 to negotiate a
new Global Biodiversity Framework,
many governments have called for 30%
of land to be protected and conservedby 2030 (roughly double the amount incurrently recognized protected areas).
However, few countries are connecting
their e orts on area-based conservation
to their e orts on climate change.
Focusing at least a portion of the global
e ort to expand land conservation inplaces essential for climate stability is a
win-win strategy.

30
x
30

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© PETE OXFORD/ILCP

Irrecoverable Carbon Reserves are areas that are newly conserved
or managed according to four foundational principles:

Inclusive
With more than one-thirdof Irrecoverable Carbon and 80% of
the world’s biodiversity under
Indigenous and local
community* guardianship,conservation areas must align with
Indigenous and local community
visions and self-determination,
especially as they are often among
the most e ective stewardsof nature. In the past, Indigenous
peoples and local communities haveoften been left out of key decisions
on how their lands should
be managed. We will partner with
Indigenous peoples and local
communities in expanding
conservation of irrecoverable
carbon and supporting their e orts
to e ectively manage their lands.

ClimateResilient

Sustainably
nancedWorking with a coalition of likeminded organizations, we will codesign Irrecoverable Carbon
Reserves, the next generation ofconservation areas, and future-proof
them for both climate andbiodiversity shifts using our new
spatial science on irrecoverable
carbon and on species’ likely
movements under climate change.
This will ensure that the lands weprotect are in the right place tosecure the most irrecoverable
carbon and help the most species
adapt. Rigorous science andproactive management will beessential in the coming decades asrisks such as re, temperaturechanges, and species migration
threaten areas previously
considered “secure.”

Real, lasting protection comes withsustainably nanced conservation
areas. Despite providing 5:1
bene ts per dollar spent,4
current protected areas have only athird of the funding they need fore ective management, leading toloss of carbon and biodiversity; we
can change this paradigm byensuring smart, sustainablenancing of Irrecoverable Carbon
Reserves.

Tech enabledTechnology can help us establish
area-based conservation in the rightplaces for carbon and biodiversity
protection under climatechange, monitor and rapidly
respond to threats, and informmanagement decisions. However,most protected areas are stuck inthe 2010s when it comes to techenabled monitoring andmanagement. Irrecoverable Carbon
Reserves will bridge this gap
through rapid
assessments, company partnerships
and on-site trainings, seeking out
the latest technologicaladvancements in areas such as
remote monitoring, advanced
sensors, arti cial intelligence andubiquitous Internet access.

*Local communities are not formally de ned under international law and include communities that do not self-identify as Indigenous but who share similar characteristics of social, cultural, and

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economic conditions that distinguish them from other sections of the national community. Local communities often have long-standing, culturally constitutive relations to lands and resources.
(De nition adapted from Rights & Resources Institute.)
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Four foundational principles of Irrecoverable Carbon Reserves

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Examples of the principles
Inclusive
In northwestern Bolivia, the Municipal Government of Ixiamas spent two years
engaging more than 800 stakeholders from three Indigenous groups andcommunities on the future of their region. The result of this process was thecreation in 2019 of a new 1.5-million-hectare municipal protected area called
Bajo Madidi. It is the largest subnational protected area in the country. In 2021,
the creation of the Guanay protected area added an additional 110,000 hectares
to this accomplishment. This corner of the Amazon is a mix of intact tropicalforest, savanna, and wetlands that hold 187 Mt of irrecoverable carbon and 20
endangered or threatened species, including black-faced spider monkeys, giant
otters and giant anteaters. Beyond protecting a huge amount of land, Bajo
Madidi also connects 2.9 million hectares of titled Indigenous lands with 6
million hectares of protected areas, thus building a mosaic of more than 10
million hectares of lands with conservation and management objectives.

Stakeholder meetings led to the creation of Bajo Madidi Municipal
Conservation and Management Area in Bolivia.
Photo: Eduardo Forno©PHOTO CAPTION

Climate Resilient
The United States’ National Park Service recently issued new guidance for the
management of national parks in the face of climate change. This is a major change foran organization that previously took a "hands-o " approach to land management, witha goal of letting nature thrive within protected parks without human interference. Now,
scientists are realizing that nature won’t be able to thrive without our help. In places
such as Glacier National Park and Joshua Tree National Park, climate change impacts(rising temperatures and re, respectively) are threatening the park’s very namesakes.
A new approach called “Resist, Accept, Direct” now guides natural resource managers
to proactively manage ecosystems for future changes — a major paradigm shift.5

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Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National Park, Montana in 2013.
The park’s glaciers are projected to be gone by 2030, altering thehydrology of the park and requiring new management strategies.
Photo: Allie Goldstein

For example, in Acadia National Park in Maine, some native tree species such as red
spruce are struggling to survive as the climate warms and invasive species gain
foothold. Nine of the 10 most common tree species are projected to lose habitat overthe next 80 years. Park managers are now considering hand-planting tree species
adapted to more southern climates within Acadia. In Glacier National Park, park
managers are making proactive management decisions to "keep options open" forvulnerable species. For example, after 10 out of 17 lakes on the west side of the park
were compromised by invasive sh species, they built a creek barrier to protect thestrongest remaining bull trout population, on Quartz Lake.6

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The Kayapó maintain legal control over an area of 10.6 million hectares (around 26 million
acres) of primary tropical forest and savanna in the southeastern Amazon region of Brazil.
They number approximately 7,000 people scattered across 46 villages in ve territories.
The land lies in the crosshairs of Brazil’s “arc of deforestation,” with a frontiercharacterized by violent land con icts. In 2011, the Kayapó Fund was created as the rst
trust fund to focus on long-term nancing for conservation of the Amazon by Indigenous
people. With fundraising and technical assistance from Conservation
International’s Global Conservation Fund and nancial backing from the Amazon Fund,managed by the Brazilian Development Bank, the Kayapó Fund started operations withan initial donation of US$ 8 million. The grants target monitoring and protection of
Kayapó land, the development of sustainable economic activities and the reinforcement
and capacity-building of Kayapó organizations. For example, a territorial monitoring andsurveillance program has been developed through supply of boats and radios,
equipment maintenance, border patrol training and use of aerial survey data. These
expeditions have successfully removed gold miners and scouted some vulnerable
sectors of illegal shing, deforestation and illegal logging. Some of the funds are also
used to establish sustainable businesses that rely on non-timber forest products such asnuts, copaiba oils, fruit and honey. The conservation leadership of the Kayapó people
and the Kayapó Fund show how large areas of irrecoverable carbon can be sustainably
nanced in a way that is aligned with the interests of Indigenous peoples and local
communities. Similar models have been replicated in many regions of the globe, and new
nancial mechanisms and climate nancing frameworks are being developed to support
the ongoing management and protection of irrecoverable carbon.

Kayapó children playing in a river.
Photo: Cristina Mittermeier

Tech enabled
Firecast is a forest and re monitoring and alert system for the tropics that uses satellite observations totrack res and forest disturbances, delivering near-real-time updates to conservation managers throughemail alerts or mobile messaging. In Indonesia, park o cials use the active re alerts for targeted patrollingof nearly 8,000 square kilometers in Gunung Leuser National Park. In Baly Bay, Madagascar, Durrell
Wildlife Conservation Trust engaged local villages in a friendly competition around re detection using
Firecast: They challenged communities to use the GPS coordinates of detected res to respond rapidly toburns within a protected area, with the winning village receiving money for a development project. Firecast
and other technologies that combine near-real-time satellite-based monitoring with mechanisms todelivery essential information directly to the people who need it, when they need it can be transformativein monitoring for threats to high-carbon areas and making the management of conservation areas moree cient and a ordable.

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Eddy Mendoza and Andres Cano test Firecast OnSight, a mobile
application for real-time re alerts, in Madagascar.
Photo: Karyn Tabor
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Sustainably nanced

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THE PLACESWE CANNOT
AFFORD TO
LOSEPhoto: © Conservation International/photo by John Martin

The Places We Cannot A ord to Lose
We now know where irrecoverable carbon can be found — and can protect it. Below aresome of the geographic priorities for irrecoverable carbon.

Amazonia
31.5 billion metric tons ofirrecoverable carbon (23% of global
total)The Amazon rainforest is home to 30 million
people—as many people as Tokyo, Mexico
City and New York City combined. It also
contains 10 percent of all known species andcontains 20 percent of the world's fresh water.
Though this entire basin is essential for
irrecoverable carbon, a few areas stand out:
The Igapó — seasonally ooded forests along
the banks of the Amazon River — containamong the largest concentrations of carbon in
Amazonia. Farther west, the aguajal forests ofnorthern Peru are dominated by the aguajepalm, which Indigenous peoples call the “treeof life” because it provides fruit and timber
while also purifying water. The mangroves andswamp forests stretching from the Atlantic
coasts of southeastern Venezuela, Guyana,
Suriname and French Guiana are among themost carbon-rich ecosystems in the world.
Figure 4: Irrecoverable carbon in Amazonia

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Congo Basin
8.1 billion metric tons of irrecoverable
carbon (6% of global total)
In peatland ecosystems, most of the carbon is below your feet, wherewaterlogged conditions slow the decomposition of plants, creating rich soil
carbon that can build up over hundreds or even thousands of years. In 2017, a
research team exploring the Congo basin of Central Africa found that the peatcovered area was 16 times larger than had been previously known, containing
about 30 percent of the world’s tropical peatland carbon. The Congo Basin is also
designated as a High Biodiversity Wilderness Area, home to 9,750 plant, 698 bird,
275 mammal, and 142 reptile species.

Figure 5: Irrecoverable carbon in the Congo Basin

New Guinea
7.3 billion metric tons of irrecoverable
carbon (5% of global total)
New Guinea is the world’s second-largest island, consisting of Papua New Guinea inthe east and the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua in the west. The
island is basically coast-to-coast irrecoverable carbon, including some of the most
expansive carbon-rich mangroves, largest intact tropical peatlands and richrainforests. New Guinea is designated as a High Biodiversity Wilderness Area, home
to 17,000 plant species, 60% of which are endemic, plus 650 birds, half of which areendemic. As unsustainable palm oil plantations have razed peatlands and forests onother Indonesian islands, West Papua is embarking on a di erent development path.
In 2019, it declared itself the world’s rst “Sustainable Development Province,”
putting sustainability at the center of its economic activity.

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Figure 6: Irrecoverable carbon in New GuineaOther important irrecoverable carbon places

South America• Valdivian Forests: Nestled between the Paci c

North America• Hudson Bay, Canada: On the southwest shoresof Canada's Hudson Bay, northern peatlands,
known as “muskeg,” store over 4 billion metrictons of irrecoverable carbon and are home towildlife including caribou and wolverines. Mining
development in the area threatens this uniqueecosystem, and some First Nations andenvironmental groups have raised the alarm.
• Paci c Northwest of North America: This
unique ecosystem on the northwest coast of
North America combines all the trappings of arainforest — mist, daily rainfall, hanging
vegetation — with temperate species. The oldgrowth forest that once stretched from Oregon tosoutheast Alaska is now mostly con ned toprotected areas such as Olympic National Park.

• Swamp forests of southern Florida: This unique

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wetland ecosystem includes mangroves, cypress
swamps and pinelands, storing massive
concentrations of carbon both above ground in
the trees but also below ground in waterlogged
soils. Everglades National Park protects a portionof it.

Ocean and the Andes Mountains in Chile, theValdivian Forest is a biodiversity hotspot, home tounique species such as Darwin’s frog, mountaincat sh, chinchilla and many lizards. It also contains
nearly 1 billion metric tons of irrecoverable carbon.
• Guianan Mangroves and Swamp Forests: Stretchingacross the Atlantic coasts of Venezuela, Guyana,
Suriname and French Guiana, these mangroves andswamp forests are among the most carbon-rich in theworld.
• Igapó forests, Western Brazil: The Igapó forests areseasonally ooded forests along the banks of the
Amazon River that contain the largest concentrationsof carbon in Amazonia. They attract many aquatic
species and are primarily threatened by dam
development that is changing the very hydrology thatenables these forests to accumulate their carbon
stores.

• Aguajales, Northern Peru: The carbon-rich
Aguajales of the Loreto and Ucayali regions ofnorthern Peru cover around 4 million hectares in the
Peruvian Amazon and are dominated by a palm
species called aguaje, which Indigenous peoples callthe "tree of life" because it provides fruit and timber
while also purifying water.

Europe• Peatlands of Northern Scotland: Northernpeatlands or bogs are a signature piece of
the Scottish landscape and heritage,
covering around 2 million hectares. "Blanket
bogs" are found in only a few parts of theworld where cool, wet, oceanic climatescreate conditions for bog mosses and otherplants to break down very slowly, storingcarbon over thousands of years. The bogs
also support breeding grounds for birds.
Photos: © Conservation International/photo by Jack Tordo ,© Andre Zumak/Creative Commons, © Tim Haynes/ ickr

22

AfricaAsia• Niger Delta Mangroves: The largest continuous mangrove

area in Africa is in the Niger Delta. These living carbon
reserves are at odds with exploitation of Nigeria’s "dead"carbon reserves—the 1.4 million barrels of oil that Nigeria
exports per day. In addition to deforestation due to oil
development itself (rigs, camps, roads, etc.) spills frequently
course their way into the mangroves.

• Okavango Basin, Botswana: This massive inland wetlandof northwest Botswana consists of marshlands andseasonally ooded plains, one of the few major interiordelta ecosystems that does not ow into a sea. It is a brightspot of carbon storage in an otherwise dry, low-carbon
country. The Okavango is also home to some of the world’s
most endangered large mammals such as cheetahs, whiteand black rhinos, and lions.

• Bangweulu wetlands, Zambia: Its name means “where thewater meets the sky”, Bangweulu is an Important Bird Area
and Ramsar Wetland of International Importance, boastingover 400 species of birds, including the iconic Shoebill
Stork. These freshwater wetlands o er essential sh stocks
for the surrounding communities, who own and sustainably
protect these natural resources through public-private andcommunity partnerships.

• Zambezi Delta, Mozambique: The delta where theZambezi River meets the Indian Ocean contains wildlife
and natural assets that are experiencing pressures frommining, encroachment from human settlements, illegal
timber trade and wildlife tra cking due to instability
introduced from prolonged unrest in Mozambique since
Independence. Underfunded law enforcement continues tocomplicate conservation in the Zambezi Delta protectedarea network, which stores vast carbon reserves.

• Cambodia's Tonle Sap: As a seasonally ooded lake, the Tonle Sap

Lake swells to more than four times its size during the monsoon
season, supporting a $2 billion sh industry and providing two-thirds ofthe protein consumed in the country. The ooded forest ecosystemsurrounding the lake also stores an inordinate amount of carbon due
to the water-logged environment, which slows decomposition rates.

• Sundarbans Mangroves: The mangrove area in the delta of theGanges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers in the Bay of Bengal(southern India and Bangladesh) is one of the largest remaining
mangrove areas in the world. The ecosystem is vulnerable to climatechange risks such as oods, cyclones and sea-level rise as well as
human exploitation. People rely on intact mangroves as nurseries forsh and crab, but also cut them down for rewood.

• Malaysian forests and peat swamps: Both peninsular Malaysia andthe Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah on the island of Borneo
contain areas of primary forest and peat swamps with highconcentrations of irrecoverable carbon.

• Borneo: The island of Borneo consists of the Malaysian states of

Sabah and Sarawak, the Indonesia province of Kalimantan, and the tinynation of Brunei. Borneo’s lowland and montane rainforests,
mangroves, and tropical peatlands make up one of the most highly
concentrated areas of irrecoverable carbon in the world.

• Scandinavian and Siberian taiga: This huge swath of boreal forestsand peatlands stretches across Russia, Finland, Sweden and Norway—
the largest ecoregion in Europe. The area holds 16% of Earth’s
irrecoverable carbon, averaging more than 50 metric tons per hectare,and is also home to charismatic mammals such as lynx, brown bear,
wolverine and elk.

• East Russian taiga: This area in the southeast corner of Russia (alsoAustralia• Eucalyptus forest of Southeast

Australia: The most carbon-dense forest
in the world in terms of abovegroundbiomass. The mega res that whipped
through Australia in 2019-2020 destroyedparts of this subtropical ecosystem, which
are particularly vulnerable because of
their dry conditions and oil-rich foliage.

Photos: © WWF Mozambique/ ickr,© Conservation International/photo by
Koulang Chey, © Giles Watson/ ickr

known as the Okhotsk-Manchurian Taiga ecoregion) is dominated by
mountains and holds nearly 2% of Earth’s irrecoverable carbon as wellas the last major Siberian tiger range.

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Other important irrecoverable carbon places

IRRECOVERABLE
CARBON +IRREPLACEABLE
BIODIVERSITY
Photo: © Jon McCormack

Irrecoverable Carbon and Irreplaceable Biodiversity

Figure 7: Irrecoverable carbon and irreplaceable biodiversity overlap strongly in the tropics
Irrecoverable carbon data is from Noon et al. 2021. Mapping the irrecoverable carbon in Earth’s ecosystems. Nature Sustainability. Biodiversity data is adapted from expert range maps
compiled by BirdLife International and IUCN Red List that have been ltered for intact habitat based on up-to-date satellite data. The summed range size rarity data used here shows the global
importance for all terrestrial vertebrate species (birds, amphibians, reptiles, mammals) that are present in a given location, with the ability to subset for endangered and threatened species.

In biodiversity conservation, the concept of “irreplaceability” already drives priority setting.
Once a species goes extinct, it’s gone. Tools such as Biodiversity Hotspots and theInternational Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species show us
the places we must protect to avoid extinctions. Like irrecoverable carbon, much of Earth’s
biodiversity is highly concentrated. The areas of high irrecoverable carbon and highbiodiversity shown in Figure 7 cover less than 14% of Earth’s land but include 75% of its
irrecoverable carbon and habitat for 91% of its species.

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Here, we combined the habitat ranges of tens of thousands of birds, mammals, amphibians
and reptiles with our map of irrecoverable carbon to see if we could nd places that are“doubly irreplaceable" for climate and biodiversity. The key areas of overlap lie in the tropics— the Amazon Basin, the Congo Basin and insular Southeast Asia — though there are also
some doubly irreplaceable areas elsewhere, including the Paci c Northwest of North
America and southeast Australia.
The coincidence of high carbon and high biodiversity is, in fact, not an accident in manycases. Seed-dispersing animals often play a key role in planting trees. And forests with morediverse species often store more carbon, in part because di erent species responddi erently to disturbances such as res or pests, making the forest as a whole more resilient.

25

CURRENTPROTECTIONSTATUS OF
EARTH’S
IRRECOVERABLE
CARBONThe Kayapó maintain legal control over an area of 10.6 million
hectares (around 26 million acres) of primary tropical forest andsavanna in the southeastern Amazon region of Brazil. See p. 18."
Photo: © Cristina Mittermeier / iLPCCurrent Conservation Status ofEarth’s Irrecoverable Carbon
Assessing how much irrecoverable carbon falls within state-designated protected areas or Indigenous peoples andlocal community (IPLC) lands provides an estimate of the magnitude of the irrecoverable carbon under some level of
direct protection, stewardship or management (Fig. 8). When we overlaid our irrecoverable carbon map with the mostrecent global data on protected areas (from Protected Planet7) and Indigenous and community lands (from a “Territories
of Life” report by the World Conservation Monitoring Center8), we found that a little less than half (48%) of Earth’s
irrecoverable carbon is within these areas.

8%

overlap23%

within protected
areas

11.6

(32 Gt)34%

within Indigenous andlocal communities’ lands(47 Gt)52%

outside ofprotected areas
or IPLC lands(72 Gt)Figure 8: Portion of Irrecoverable Carbon in protected areas and IPLC lands
Note: Circles are for illustrative purposes and are not sized to scale.

27

Protected areas
The proportion and patterns of irrecoverable carbon within protected areas di ers by country, with implications for national strategies to secure irrecoverable
carbon, especially as risks to irrecoverable carbon shift over time. For example, Guyana has historically low deforestation rates but only ve protected areas
covering less than 10% of its territory. The recent discovery of o shore oil in 2015 has ushered in a new era of development, especially along the country’s
northeastern border, where its densest irrecoverable carbon lies in coastal mangroves (Fig. 9). Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of Gabon’s irrecoverable carbon is withinprotected areas. In Cambodia, the most concentrated area of irrecoverable carbon rings the forested lands around the seasonally ooded Tonle Sap Lake in thecenter of the country. Though much of this land is within protected areas, it faces pressures from rice paddy development as well as extreme heat and drought thathave exacerbated forest res. Overall, 42% of Cambodia’s irrecoverable carbon is within protected areas, though a new regulation makes more than 127,000
hectares of previously protected land potentially up for sale or rent. (See PADDD, next page.)

Venezuela

GuyanaSuriname

BrazilFigure 9: Irrecoverable carbon in protected areas in Guyana, Gabon, and Cambodia

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Note: Guyana’s map also includes data on Indigenous lands from Indigenous A airs, 2010.

PADDD in irrecoverable carbon lands
Even as countries look to expand the global protected area network, many current areas
are under threat. We think of protected areas as permanent xtures of the landscape, but
research has revealed that governments often relax restrictions, shrink boundaries or
eliminate protections altogether. Protected area downgrading, downsizing anddegazettement (PADDD) events are processes through which protected areas can lose
some or all of their legal protections. PADDD has occurred in at least 75 countries, a ecting
an area about the size of Mexico; this area contains over 3 billion metric tons ofirrecoverable carbon. Not all PADDD events put protected areas and irrecoverable carbon
at risk, such as legal changes that transfer land rights to IPLCs or allow sustainable use ofresources.12 However, most PADDD events globally have authorized new or expanded
industrial-scale development or extractive activities – like mining, industrial agriculture, andlarge-scale infrastructure – which threaten ecosystems and their irrecoverable carbon. Oil
drilling and associated infrastructure has also been authorized in protected areas, which
not only degrades ecosystems, but also directly contributes to CO2 emissions.
Figure 10 shows two examples of PADDD. The boundaries of Yasuní National Park in
Ecuador have changed several times. The park is larger today than its original size, butlegal protections have been loosened to allow for oil drilling and associated infrastructure,
like roads, pipelines and helipads.13 Part of the park was upgraded to designate theTagaeri-Taromenane Intangible Zone, prohibiting industrial extraction to on the lands of
Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation. However, recent satellite imagery shows theencroachment of an oil road near the Intangible Zone.
In Rondônia, Brazil and in some surrounding areas, several previously protected areas were
downsized or completely degazetted. These PADDD events authorized hydropower dams
or rural settlements. Research revealed that PADDD was more likely to occur in protectedareas with higher deforestation rates.14 Bargaining between development and conservationinterests — loss of protections in one place, accompanied by gains in protections
elsewhere — has also been detected in the Brazilian Amazon. These ndings underscorethe importance of continued enforcement and management to prevent deforestation — andloss of irrecoverable carbon — in the rst place. Transparency and participatory decisionmaking, monitoring, sustainable nancing and local support are also key to ensuring lasting
protections.

Figure 10: PADDD events in Ecuador (top) and Brazil(bottom) a ect areas with irrecoverable carbon

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Indigenous and community lands
Globally, 132 countries containing mapped IPLC lands cover nearly 32% ofEarth’s terrestrial surface,15 and 114 of these countries contain irrecoverable
carbon. Given that many IPLC lands have not been mapped, our nding thata third of Earth’s irrecoverable carbon is within IPLC lands is likely anunderestimate. IPLCs’ role in sustainable management and conservation of
irrecoverable carbon is therefore of particular importance.
Similar to protected areas, IPLC status does not always guarantee
conservation outcomes; however, IPLCs often manage the land in a way
consistent with maintaining irrecoverable carbon. In fact, a recent study ofIndigenous lands in the Amazon and Panama found that these lands
secured similar or even larger carbon stocks than comparable protectedareas over the same timeframe.16 IPLCs have an inextricable link to theirlands so their traditional knowledge, ways of life and livelihood systems are
essential for the continued stewardship of these lands. This means
securing IPLCs' engagement and collaboration is key to conserving carbon
and irrecoverable carbon. However, mining, industrial agriculture, and otheractivities continue to degrade IPLCs’ lands, especially where IPLCs’ tenure
over those lands lack legal recognition.
Studies of Amazonian countries (where nearly a quarter of IPLC-managed
irrecoverable carbon is found) show that IPLC lands with secure tenure
have signi cantly lower deforestation than in lands without it.17 This
indicates that land rights are crucial to protect both the rights of IPLCs andthe high-carbon ecosystems they use and steward. IPLCs are diverse
groups facing diverse sets of threats, so policies and investments related tothe protection of land rights and or carbon ecosystems should be contextspeci c in a way that respects the self-determination and visions of IPLCs.
Free and prior informed consent (FPIC) must always be obtained from the
IPLCs for decisions connected to their lands and rights.

Figure 11: Indigenous and community land tenure overlaps with
irrecoverable carbon areas in Amazonia
Note: Map based on lands and territories formally recognized by the national governments. Areas lacking
data do not mean the absence of IPLCs lands and territories. Owner, manager, and holder refer to thebundle of land tenure rights that people have over their land, with owner possessing the mostcomprehensive rights. Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities land governance data is from
Conservation International’s ‘Conservation Atlas’ (last updated April 2021).

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RECENT LOSS +FUTURE RISK

Photo: © Kate Evans/CIFOR/Flickr Creative Commons

Recent Loss
Over the past decade, at least 4 billion metric tons of irrecoverable carbon have been lost due to land-use change. This is equivalent to roughly 5
percent of fossil fuel emissions over that time period and should be considered just as permanent — this irrecoverable carbon would take at least
three decades to recover in a best-case scenario.
Since 83% of irrecoverable carbon areas have tree cover, loss estimates based on global forest change18 are a reasonable proxy for irrecoverable
carbon loss over the last decade. The patterns and rate of irrecoverable carbon loss di ers considerably by country: for example, Myanmar has lost
5.4% of its irrecoverable carbon since 2010 (43 Mt) while Peru has lost 1.3% (60 Mt).

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Figure 12: Irrecoverable carbon loss in Peru and Myanmar in the last decade32

Key drivers of irrecoverable carbon loss
Commercial agriculture drives
70% of tropical deforestation
Cattle, oil palm, soy, timber and paper pulp are the biggest
drivers of deforestation. Malaysia has lost more than 100 million
metric tons of irrecoverable carbon — 9 percent of its total — due
to deforestation over the last decade. It is the second-largest
producer of palm oil globally, and palm oil concessions often
overlap with intact forest and tropical peatlands. The country has
agreed to limit palm oil cultivation areas to 6.55 million hectares
by 2023, but many to-be-developed palm concessions stillcoincide with areas of irrecoverable carbon. Palm oil is found in
thousands of household products, from candy to laundry
detergent to shampoo, with demand driven globally.
Figure 13: Recent deforestation in Malaysia is driven by palm oil cultivation

Shrimp ponds and other aquaculture
threaten mangrove ecosystems
Commercial aquaculture is the main threat to the densest
irrecoverable carbon ecosystems on Earth (mangroves). For
example, 70 percent of Indonesia's 3.7 million hectares (9.1 million
acres) of mangroves have been damaged or degraded byaquaculture, according to the Global Mangrove Alliance. Oncedrained for shrimp ponds, these coastal ecosystems release themajority of their stored irrecoverable carbon into the atmosphere.

Shrimp ponds are a leading driver of mangroves deforestation.
Photo © Kampee Patisena/Getty Images

33

Future risks
If deforestation continues at current rates into the future, at least 4.5 Gt of irrecoverable carbon could be lost each decade due todeforestation alone, meaning at least 10% of the irrecoverable carbon stock globally would be gone by 2050. However, thespatial distribution, types and pace of future risks cannot simply be extrapolated from historical trends. While areas of current
irrecoverable carbon loss require immediate attention, a view toward future risks — both due to shifting human pressures and achanging climate — is needed to ensure these irrecoverable carbon reserves are maintained over coming decades.

Deforestation frontiers
can shift due tounpredictable market
or political forces
Colombia has a relatively clear
deforestation frontier on the westernedge of the Amazon rainforest. The
country has lost about 52 million metrictons of irrecoverable carbon to
deforestation in the last decade. The
end of Colombia's half-century ofarmed con ict in 2016 led to increased
deforestation, as cattle and cocoa
cultivation expanded and previously
contested lands opened up fordevelopment. Though in 2019 thecountry's annual deforestation rate
dropped for the rst time since thepeace agreement was signed,
Colombia illustrates how socio-politicalfactors can drive environmental
outcomes — and how periods oftransition can be especially tenuous.

fiflPhoto: © Matt Zimmerman

Figure 14: Irrecoverable carbon loss in Colombia from 2011-201934

Australia

Figure 15: Burn area from the 2019-2020 bush re season in Australia.
Fires impacted an area of 37 million hectares (91 million acres) across Australia, with over
455 million metric tons of irrecoverable carbon.19

Climate change itself increasingly
threatens irrecoverable carbon
As wild re, storms, drought, changing rainfall patterns, and species shifts
become more acute, some ecosystems storing irrecoverable carbon
become more physically vulnerable. For example, record-breaking
temperatures, long droughts and strong winds — all related to climatechange — have exacerbated forest res in Australia. These mega res are
threatening the eucalyptus forest in the southeast corner of the country, oneof the largest carbon-storing forests in the world. Globally, forest res areburning hotter and longer even in temperate areas adapted to re, and they
are igniting tropical forests where res are not a natural part of theecosystem’s life cycle. On the coast, sea-level rise, more intense storms andocean acidi cation can a ect high-carbon ecosystems such as mangroves,seagrasses and tidal marshes. Changing precipitation patterns and higher
temperatures can also shift an entire ecosystem to a lower-carbon state. In
the Amazon, for example, studies warn the rainforest could reach a tipping
point that turns much of it into a savannah.

Photo: Agricultural frontiers driven by climate change could open up more
farmlands in Russia. © Victoria Borodinova/Pexels

Agricultural frontiers may increaserisks in northern latitudes
Rising temperatures brought by climate change mean that more areas innorthern latitudes may become suitable for growing crops such as potatoes,
wheat, maize and soy. Recent research estimates that an additional 10
million-24 million square kilometers (4 million-9 million square miles) could
open up to agriculture in the next 50 years in higher latitudes including
Canada and Russia. Without appropriate land-use planning, clearing these
northern frontiers for crops could put an additional 18 billion metric tons ofirrecoverable carbon at risk in temperate and boreal forests.

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Climate Risk
Low
High

Figure 16: Climate and land-use conversion risks to irrecoverable carbon by ecoregion, and strategies for risk mitigation

High climate risk; Low land- use conservation risk

High climate risk + High land-use conversion risk

• Land-use planning for climate change• Adaptive ecosystem management• Assisted species migration• Fire and pest management• All strategies are relevant

Low overall risk to irrecoverable carbon
Low
High
Land-use conservation risk

• Monitor climate & land-use change risks• Proactive protection where possible

High land-use conservation risk; Low climate risk

• New protected areas• More resources to existing protected areas• Indigenous land tenure• Payments for avoid deforestation• Concessions buybacks

fiIrrecoverable carbon is shaded by density, with colors delineated by ecoregion according to their degree of human modi cation (with a Human Footprint of 6 or greater considered ‘high’) and climate change risk (with a Climate
Stability Index of 0.5 or lower considered ‘high’). Note that these are just two possible datasets for assessing land-use and climate risk, and downscaled risk assessments would be needed to inform action at the country or local
scale. Strategies for managing risks to irrecoverable carbon are depicted based on the four major risk categories. Adapted from Noon et al. 2021. Mapping the irrecoverable carbon in Earth’s ecosystems. Nature Sustainability.

36

We now know that the world’s ecosystems harbor signi cantirrecoverable carbon which, if lost, could not be recovered in time toaddress the current climate emergency. The protection of these places
must be part of any successful strategy to avoid the most dangerous impactsof climate change. Our e ort to map irrecoverable carbon globally reveals a
few convenient truths:
1. Irrecoverable carbon is relatively concentrated, with 50% found in 3.3%
of Earth’s land and 75% found in 7.5% of Earth’s land. These areas are
the most important to monitor for risk and proactively protect given
their carbon would be irrecoverable for at least three decades, if lost.
2. Irrecoverable carbon and areas of high biodiversity overlap in many
places, particularly in the tropics. This means that long-term area-based
conservation can be a win-win for the climate and biodiversity, with
irrecoverable carbon and habitat for threatened species being
proactively managed in the same places. The knowledge that certain
biodiverse lands are also playing a key function in storing irrecoverable
carbon could open up new climate nance mechanisms for thoselands.
3. Indigenous peoples and local communities manage at least a third of
Earth’s irrecoverable carbon. This is a “convenient truth" – in many ofthese places, no new legal designation or management plan isrequired — we simply need to support the rights of the people who live
there and their ways of life. It is alongside many of the world’s
traditional cultures that carbon in ecosystems has been maintained
generation after generation.

We o er the following high-level recommendations to policymakers,
nanciers and conservation practitioners:• Support Indigenous peoples and local communities, who collectively
manage more irrecoverable carbon than any other group but face
increasing threats to their lands. One of the most powerful ways forgovernments to support Indigenous peoples is to ensure (or restore)
their land tenure rights.

• Rapidly address policies and practices that threaten Earth’s lastremaining irrecoverable carbon strongholds. This may include, forexample, retiring extractive concessions (e.g. oil and gas, mining,
logging) and prohibition and/or removal of unsustainable infrastructure(e.g. dams, roads, pipelines) on lands with high irrecoverable carbon.

• Use the irrecoverable carbon map in spatial prioritization and planninge orts, alongside other relevant datasets. For example, irrecoverable
carbon values could be used as part of the justi cation for a newconservation area designation, in addition to biodiversity data.

• For countries seeking to expand their protected and conserved area
networks as part of global e orts to protect 30% of land by 2030,
consider unprotected irrecoverable carbon lands as high priority forpotential places to expand legal protections or recognition ofIndigenous peoples and local communities.

• Prioritize 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.

• Create new nancial mechanisms for the proactive protection of

irrecoverable carbon against land-use change and climate change
threats, complementing existing climate nance mechanisms such as
REDD+.

• Implement the four pillars of Irrecoverable Carbon Reserves—inclusivity,
climate resilience, sustainable nance and technology enabled—so thatthese areas are "future- t" and will still be providing their critical carbon
storage and sequestration functions in 2050 and beyond.

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Conclusion andRecommendations

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