Recovering forests can offset around a quarter of the emissions generated from deforestation in humid tropical regions, according to a new study. Such forests – also known as degraded and secondary forests – have had some degree of disturbance by human activities, such as deforestation or fires. They currently cover about 10% of the tropical forest area worldwide and are concentrated in the Amazon, Borneo and central Africa.  The new research, published in Nature, uses satellite data to assess how much carbon these forests accumulate in their aboveground vegetation and estimates their potential to store carbon in the future. The researchers find that degraded and secondary forests in humid tropical regions have stored, on average, 107m tonnes of carbon (MtC) annually between 1984 and 2018 – enough to offset 26% of the carbon emissions generated from forest loss in those regions during that period. Moreover, the research estimates that conserving such forests could lead to an annual carbon sink of 53MtC.  The study says that investing in conservation for secondary and degraded forests is essential, but warns that this should not come at the expense of conserving old-growth forests, which “remains the most cost-effective climate mitigation strategy in the land-use sector”. Researchers use the term “recovering forests” to collectively refer to degraded and secondary forests. Degraded forests are those that have suffered any human-induced disturbance that has led to a partial loss of their tree cover or function. Secondary forests are those that are regrowing naturally in deforested areas.  These forests are primarily located in the Amazon, Borneo and central Africa – three regions that together accounted for 29% of global emissions from forest loss during 2001-19. But these regions are not just significant for their forest loss, says Dr Viola Heinrich, the lead author of the study and a research associate at the University of Exeter. She tells Carbon Brief: “Recovering forests are important for conservation and restoring the carbon stored within them. The research has shown that they also have other co-benefits or ecosystem services that they can continue to provide if you let them recover.” For example, the study says, in Malaysian Borneo, degraded forests have been found to “provide access to clean water, clean air and regulate temperature”, while “older secondary forests can increase biodiversity in both species richness and diversity”. However, recovering forests are also impacted by logging, fires and climate change.           https://www.carbonbrief.org/regrowth-of-degraded-tropical-forests-offsets-a-quarter-of-deforestation-emissions/?utm_source=cbnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-03-17&utm_campaign=Daily+Briefing+16+03+2023