Search Results (22)

REDD+ is a global mechanism that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by preventing deforestation and forest degradation, enhancing forest carbon stocks, and promoting sustainable forest management in developing countries. It plays a crucial role for developing countries in achieving climate targets under the Paris Agreement and can be implemented at the project, subnational, and national levels. Subnational REDD+ offers several advantages over project-level, such as reduced risk of overestimating emissions and enhanced management of leakage. However, the comprehensive opportunities and challenges of subnational REDD+ have not been extensively investigated in the literature. This paper aims to undertake a thorough review of subnational REDD+, highlighting its potential and the obstacles it faces. This systematic review synthesizes the existing literature on subnational REDD+ implementation, analyzing 54 peer-reviewed articles published between 2005 and 2024. The review identified three key factors for the effective implementation of subnational REDD+: financial, social, and institutional factors. Within these three factors, both opportunities and challenges were discussed, drawing on case studies and synthesizing practical implications. Our findings demonstrate that successful subnational REDD+ initiatives require integrated approaches that address the causal relationships between financing mechanisms, governance structures, and stakeholder engagement. The discussion further explores these interdependencies, revealing how constraints in one dimension create cascading effects across others. This study provides empirical insights and actionable recommendations for policymakers and project developers engaged in climate change mitigation efforts. Full article

Steam traps are essential for industrial systems, ensuring steam quality and energy efficiency by removing condensate and preventing steam leakage. However, their failure results in energy loss, operational disruptions, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. This paper proposes a novel predictive maintenance system for steam traps that integrates statistical time series features and transformer encoder–decoder models for fault diagnosis and visualization. The proposed system combines IoT sensor data, operational parameters, open data (e.g., weather information and public holiday calendars), machine learning, and two-dimensional diagnostic projection to improve reliability and interpretability. Experiments were conducted in two industrial plants: an aluminum processing plant and a food manufacturing plant, and the system achieved superior defect detection accuracy and diagnostic reliability compared to existing methods. The transformer-based model outperformed traditional methods, including random forest, gradient boosting, and variational autoencoder, in classification and clustering. The system also demonstrated an average 6.92% reduction in thermal energy across both sites, highlighting its potential to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. This research highlights the transformative impact of AI-based predictive maintenance technologies in industrial operations and provides a framework for sustainable manufacturing practices. Full article

Orphaned and abandoned wells in the United States pose significant environmental risks, including methane emissions, groundwater contamination, and ecosystem degradation. These wells also threaten the integrity of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects by providing potential leakage pathways for stored CO₂, particularly if they lack proper plugging and well integrity. Although the exact number of orphaned and abandoned wells is uncertain due to poor historical documentation, recent estimates suggest there could be as many as 3.9 million such wells nationwide, emitting approximately 3.2 Teragram (Tg) of methane annually. This study investigates the distribution of orphaned and abandoned wells across the United States, presenting new estimates of documented wells and exploring their methane emissions. Through state-level data analysis, the number of documented orphan wells is estimated to be significantly higher than previously reported. A machine learning model, specifically a RandomForestRegressor, was employed to predict the locations of potential orphan wells, enhancing the ability to target monitoring and remediation efforts. Full article

Soil hydrology seriously affects the prevention of desertification in karst areas. However, water infiltration in the different soil layers of secondary forests and artificial forests in karst areas remains uncertain. This lack of clarity is also the factor that constrains local vegetation restoration. Therefore, monitoring and simulating the priority transport of soil moisture will help us understand the shallow soil moisture transport patterns after artificial vegetation restoration in the local area, providing a reference for more scientific restoration of the ecological environment and enhancement of carbon storage in karst areas. The integration of soil physical property assessments, computed tomography (CT) scanning, dye tracing studies, and HYDRUS-2D modeling was utilized to evaluate and contrast the attributes of soil macropores and the phenomenon of preferential flow across various forestland categories. This approach allowed for a comprehensive analysis of how the soil structure and water movement are influenced by different forest ecosystems and infiltration head simulations (5 mm, 15 mm, 35 mm, and 55 mm) to elucidate the dynamics of water movement across diverse soil types within karst regions, to identify the causes of water leakage due to preferential flow in secondary forests, and to understand the mechanisms of water conservation and reduction in artificial forests adopting a multifaceted approach. This study demonstrated that (1) the soil hydrological capacity of a plantation forest was 20% higher than a natural forest, which may be promoted by the clay content and distribution. (2) Afforestation-enhanced soils in karst regions demonstrate a significant capacity to mitigate the loss of clay particles during episodes of preferential flow and then improve the soil erosion resistance by about 5 times, which can effectively control desertification in karst area. (3) The uniform distribution of macropores in plantation forest soil was conducive to prevent water leakage more effectively than the secondary forest but was incapable of hindering the occurrence of preferential flow. The secondary forest had a very developed preferential flow phenomenon, and soil clay deposition occurred with an increase in depth. (4) Moreover, the results for preferential flow showed that the matrix flow depth did not increase with the increase in water quantity. Short-term and high-intensity heavy rainfall events facilitated the occurrence of preferential flow. Infiltration along the horizontal and vertical directions occurred simultaneously. These results could facilitate a further understanding of the contribution of the plantation to soil amelioration and the prevention of desertification in karst areas, and provide some suggestions for the sustainable development of forestry in karst areas where plantation restoration is an important ingredient. Full article

This paper presents an in-depth analysis of the impact of forest carbon sink trading in China, examining its effects from 2018 to 2030 under various carbon pricing scenarios. Using the Global Timber Market Model (GFPM) along with the IPCC Carbon Sink Model, we simulate the potential shifts in China’s forest resources and the global timber market. The study finds that forest carbon trading markedly boosts China’s forest stock and carbon sequestration, aligning with its dual carbon objectives. China’s implementation of forest carbon trading is likely to result in a degree of carbon leakage on a global scale. During the forecast period, our study reveals that the carbon leakage rates under three different forest carbon trading price scenarios, which at estimated at 81.5% (USD 9.8/ton), 64.0% (USD 25/ton), and 57.8% (USD 54/ton), respectively. Notably, the leakage rate diminishes as the forest carbon sink price increases. Furthermore, analysis also suggests that regional variations in the average carbon sequestration capacity of forests, alongside the structure of China’s timber imports, emerge as significant factors influencing the extent of carbon leakage. Full article

Rocky desertification is a common phenomenon in karst areas. Soil carbon and nitrogen storage is of great significance to the formation and evolution of ecosystems. Soil leakage is one of the important indicators in evaluating ecosystem stability. There are few studies on the response of carbon and nitrogen leakage below the surface of karst critical zones to forest ecosystems. The karst springs in the study area of Shibing Heichong, Bijie Salaxi and Guanling-Zhenfeng Huajiang in Guizhou, China, were selected to determine the variation characteristics of carbon and nitrogen content and karst spring outputs and their response to soil leakage. The results showed the following: (1) The content and output of carbon and nitrogen in karst springs in the three study areas showed obvious spatial differences. The carbon and nitrogen output of karst spring water was mainly concentrated in the rainy season. The carbon and nitrogen contents and output of karst springs in the Shibing Heichong study area were higher than those in the Bijie Salaxi and Guanling-Zhenfeng Huajiang study areas. (2) The carbon and nitrogen outputs of karst springs were mainly affected by flow. Land cover and land use in forests affect the carbon and nitrogen contents of karst springs and thus affect the output. (3) The higher the soil leakage of the karst spring was, the higher the carbon and nitrogen output. The leakage of the overlying soil in the Shibing Heichong study area was high, but the soil decline was small, and the stability of the forest ecosystem was relatively good. In summary, a lower degree of rocky desertification results in higher leakage from karst springs and higher risks of soil leakage; however, the ecosystem was relatively stable. Evaluating forest soil carbon and nitrogen loss and ecosystem stability in karst areas through the nutrient output of karst springs is of great significance for the prevention and control of rocky desertification areas. Full article

Carbon sink afforestation (CSA) has become one of the most concerned issues of countries around the world under the background of climate change. The northern forest ecosystem, located in mid- and high latitudes, is a huge terrestrial carbon pool and is very sensitive to climate change. Studying the carbon emission accounting of CSA in northern forests helps clarify the contribution of CSA to forestry carbon sequestration and forecasts the carbon sink effect of forest ecosystems. It is of great significance for the assessment of forest carbon sink and carbon cycling by providing a scientific basis and reference for the development, utilization, and management of carbon sink afforestation, as well as the coordinated development of ecology and social economy. At present, research on the carbon emission accounting of the CSA in northern China is still lacking. According to the relevant models and parameters of estimating live biomasses with the default method from the IPCC’s (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Technical Guidelines for National Forestry Carbon Sink Accounting and Monitoring, carbon stock, carbon emission, and carbon leakage of the Weihe CSA (carbon sink afforestation) pilot demonstration area in the boreal Longjiang Forest Industry in a baseline scenario and CSA scenario were measured, and the CSA’s net carbon sink was estimated. The conclusions were as follows: (1) By the end of the crediting period of the project’s baseline, carbon fixation reached 101.85 t CO₂, with an average annual CO₂ fixation of 5.09 t. By the end of the CSA term, carbon sequestration was accumulated as 382.13 t CO₂, with an average annual sequestration of 19.11 t CO₂, nearly four times that of the baseline period. (2) By the end of the CSA term, the carbon sequestration of the coniferous standing forest was 46.2% higher than that of the broad-leaved standing forest, accounting for 65% of the total carbon sequestration of the forest. The carbon sequestration of the tree species in the coniferous forest in descending order is Picea koraiensis, Pinus koraiensis, Larix olgensis, Fraxinus mandshurica, and Populus cathayana. The carbon sink density of the coniferous standing forest was 8.7% higher than that of the broad-leaved standing forest. (3) The carbon fixation of the coniferous standing forest nearly doubled that of the broad-leaved standing forest. The highest carbon fixation belongs to Fraxinus mandshurica, closely followed by Picea koraiensis and Pinus koraiensis at a high level, and then Larix olgensis and Populus cathayana. The carbon fixation of Fraxinus mandshurica was 20 times that of Populus cathayana. (4) The accumulated greenhouse gas emissions within the boundary during the CSA period were 2.53 t CO₂-e. The accumulated greenhouse gas leakage outside the boundary was 0.05 t CO₂-e. Carbon emissions occurred in the first, second, and third years of the crediting period, while carbon leakage occurred only in the first year. (5) This result appeared as carbon sources during the first three years of the CSA period but changed to carbon sink from the fourth year and then accumulated to 280.28 t (70.07 t CO₂-e·hm⁻²) as a net carbon sink by the end of the term. The Weihe CSA appeared to have a relatively strong ability of carbon sequestration in temperate forests. The CSA activity is influenced by factors such as policies, environment, management, etc., resulting in uncertainties in carbon sequestration accounting. Therefore, it is suggested that comparison studies and investigations should be strengthened, and multiple methods should be integrated into carbon sequestration estimation and accounting, leading the carbon accounting of forest ecosystems to a high-level and comprehensive development. Full article

Border carbon adjustments (BCAs) are designed to regulate carbon emissions and reduce carbon leakage. Thus far, BCAs are mainly applied to imported carbon-intensive products. On the other hand, harvested wood products (HWPs) are the extension of forest carbon stocks, whose changes affect a country’s carbon stock level. Nonetheless, the trade of HWPs also raises the problem of carbon leakage when their carbon stocks are exported, which can be partially solved by applying export BCAs. We construct a two-stage game model to analyze the strategy changes of the government and forestry companies under BCAs: the first stage is output competition in a Cournot game similar to the trade of HWPs between New Zealand and China; the second stage is the setting of the tax rate of BCAs by the country. We use the inverse solution method to derive the results of the game. Our results find that the government imposes BCAs on exports of HWPs when the carbon stock value exceeds a threshold. Moreover, the export BCAs on HWPs can effectively reduce the amount of HWPs exported. The results also show that BCAs diminish forestry exporters’ revenues and consumer surplus while having no significant detrimental impact on a country’s welfare. BCAs help include carbon stock values into HWPs’ prices and reduce carbon leakage, which is beneficial for climate change. Thus, exporting countries can maintain their welfare by implementing BCAs, and the forestry companies can respond by improving product quality, enhancing product uniqueness, and reducing production costs. Full article

Green growth and the transition towards green growth are gaining scientific and public interest across Africa at an unprecedented rate. The Paris Agreement ratification by all 54 member states and the African Union (AU) goals in its Agenda 2063 on green economies are sufficient evidence of this. This is in line with the European Green Deal (EGD) aspirations, which envisages making Europe a carbon neutral economy by 2050. One of the EGD’s four main pillars is sustainable food systems. The success of EGD is premised on its ability to inspire and support green transition and effective climate action globally. The borderless nature of climate change necessitates a holistic approach to ensure the EU’s green transition does not come at the cost of development elsewhere. The main challenge is finding Africa’s space and position within the desired holistic approach, as Africa’s economy is agriculturally driven. One key African agricultural sub-sector significantly impacting livelihoods is livestock, which supports up to 80% of the rural livelihoods and which grapples with challenges in satisfying the needs of a fast-growing population. What could the EU green transition mean to this sector? We established that between 2010–2019, the African livestock population grew exponentially, and feed production followed the same path, with the share of land under forests, grasslands and meadows declining drastically. Over the same period, the percentage of land under arable farming increased while the animal-based protein and meat imports curve grew exponentially. This situation puts the continent in a dilemma about finding a sustainable solution for the food–feed and environmental nexus. Against this backdrop, a myriad of questions arises on how the green transition can be established to promote mitigating any loss that might occur in the process. We conducted a detailed sectoral trend analysis based on Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) statistics to find plausible solutions and pathways to achieve a greener transition. We coupled it with intensive policy mapping to develop science-policy-driven solutions that could promote the green transition sustainably. To sustainably accelerate the sectoral growth trajectory while addressing climate change, we recommend adopting and implementing raft measures geared towards increased sectoral efficiency, effectiveness, innovativeness and a holistic approach to the problem. Adopting transformative policies can promote the sector’s competitiveness through incentivisation, technological adoption, financial support, market support and increased awareness of its importance in sustainable development. However, exercising caution in implementing these practices is crucial to ensure there is no leakage effect in implementing the EGD across Africa and beyond. Full article

This paper critically assesses the institutional structure of the Benefit Sharing Mechanism (BSM) under the Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in the global south, managing forest sustainably to conserve carbon (REDD+) in India. Moreover, this paper examines the problems and prospects of livelihood enhancement of the local community. The findings of the study indicate that the intervention of the carbon market promotes the neoliberal capitalist agenda which can adversely impact the livelihood of local communities through forest grabbing. The proposed top-down centralized model of BSM can hinder its effectiveness and increase leakage. At the local level, the existing institution of Joint Forest Management (JFM) in India failed to achieve sustainability and decentralized right-based forest management systems. Our work has led us to conclude without safeguarding the rights of local communities and securing basic necessities for local forest-dependent communities, livelihood enhancement would not be possible. Full article

Riparian forests are considered to be productive transitional zones between aquatic and terrestrial environments. Despite the complex systems of riparian forests, little is known about their potential for carbon storage, particularly under temperate climates. This study aimed to calculate the major carbon pools (woody biomass) of riparian forests surrounding small and medium streams in the hemiboreal zone in Latvia. The estimated woody carbon pool of the studied riparian forests was comparable to that in commercially managed forest stands within the region. The total woody biomass carbon pool was 141.6 ± 62.5 Mg C ha⁻¹, the majority of which was formed by stem biomass. Similar to other studies, there was high spatial variability, while significant differences were observed between dominant tree species. The results suggest that the carbon storage of the studied riparian forests was not as high as it was expected to be; however, the results did not include soil carbon pool assessment. Grey alder stands, which are considered undesirable near streams due to erosion and nutrient leakage, formed a significantly lower carbon pool, supporting their management for the multipurpose goal of riparian forests. Full article

The rate of landcover change linked to deforestation and forest degradation in tropical environments has continued to surge despite a series of forest governance policy instruments over the years. These informed the launch of one of the most important international policies called Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Plus (REDD+) to combat forest destruction. REDD+ assumes that communities will have increased assets to natural capital which will enhance their livelihood portfolio and mitigate the effects of climate variability and change across biomes. The aim of this study is to ascertain the livelihoods impacts of forest carbon protection within the context of REDD+ in Cross River State, Nigeria. Six forest communities were chosen across three agroecological zones of the State. Anchored on the Sustainable Livelihood Framework, a set of questionnaires were administered to randomly picked households. The results indicate that more than half of the respondents aligned with financial payment and more natural resources as the perceived benefits of carbon protection. More so, a multinomial logistic regression showed that income was the main factor that influenced respondent’s support for forest carbon protection. Analysis of income trends from the ‘big seven’ non-timber forest resources in the region showed increase in Gnetum africanum, Bushmeat, Irvingia gabonensis, Garcinia kola, while carpolobia spp., Randia and rattan cane revealed declining income since inception of REDD+. The recorded increase in household income was attributed to a ban in logging. It is recommended that the forest communities should be more heavily involved in the subsequent phases of the project implementation to avoid carbon leakages. Full article

Reducing deforestation and forest degradation presents a climate-change mitigation opportunity that is critical to meeting the Paris Agreement goals, and to achieving reductions in the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) provides developing countries with results-based financial incentives for reducing deforestation and forest degradation through either non-market payments (payments without generation of carbon credits), or market-based mechanisms (carbon credits). REDD credits have been recently accepted to be used in offsetting programs (e.g., CORSIA) and are being considered under Article 6. However, various publications have questioned whether carbon credits from REDD should be accepted under market-based mechanisms, and have identified issues regarding their environmental integrity and their ability to offset emissions from other sectors. In recent years, REDD implementation has moved from the project level to the national or subnational (jurisdictional) level, and is addressing some of the concerns that have been raised for project-level interventions regarding the robustness of baselines and leakage, for example. In this paper we compare the environmental integrity of credits from REDD programs with that from on-grid renewable energy projects by examining aspects related to permanence, additionality, baselines, uncertainty, and leakage. We show that the environmental integrity of emission reductions sourced from REDD programs has unique strengths, and that those sourced from renewable energy projects have weaknesses of their own. Probably due to a lack of understanding of the respective weaknesses and strengths of these two sources of credits, the emission reductions from REDD programs have been historically questioned and subjected to a level of scrutiny that has not been made with emission reductions from other sectors, such as renewable energy projects. Recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of emission reductions from both types should help decision makers and carbon standards recognize the high quality of emission reductions from REDD programs, and rationalize the current requirements or restrictions imposed. Full article

Background and Objectives: Under the Paris Agreement, the European Union (EU) sets rules for accounting the greenhouse gas emissions and removals from forest land (FL). According to these rules, the average FL emissions of each member state in 2021–2025 (compliance period 1, CP1) and in 2026–2030 (compliance period 2, CP2) will be compared to a projected forest reference level (FRL). The FRL is estimated by modelling forest development under fixed forest management practices, based on those observed in 2000–2009. In this context, the objective of this study was to estimate the effects of large-scale uptake of alternative forest management models (aFMMs), developed in the ALTERFOR project (Alternative models and robust decision-making for future forest management), on forest harvest and forest carbon sink, considering that the proposed aFMMs are expanded to most of the suitable areas in EU27+UK and Turkey. Methods: We applied the Global Forest Model (G4M) for projecting the harvest and sink with the aFMMs and compared our results to previous FRL projections. The simulations were performed under the condition that the countries should match the harvest levels estimated for their FRLs as closely as possible. A representation of such aFMMs as clearcut, selective logging, shelterwood logging and tree species change was included in G4M. The aFMMs were modeled under four scenarios of spatial allocation and two scenarios of uptake rate. Finally, we compared our results to the business as usual. Results: The introduction of the aFMMs enhanced the forest sink in CP1 and CP2 in all studied regions when compared to the business as usual. Conclusions: Our results suggest that if a balanced mixture of aFMMs is chosen, a similar level of wood harvest can be maintained as in the FRL projection, while at the same time enhancing the forest sink. In particular, a mixture of multifunctional aFMMs, like selective logging and shelterwood, could enhance the carbon sink by up to 21% over the ALTERFOR region while limiting harvest leakages. Full article

Anthropogenic activities such as logging or forest conversion into agricultural lands are affecting Ecuadorian Amazon forests. To foster private and communal conservation activities an economic incentive-based conservation program (IFC) called Socio Bosque was established. Existing analyses related to conservation strategies are mainly focused on deforestation; while degradation and the role of IFC to safeguard ecosystem services are still scarce. Further on, there is a lack of landscape-level studies taking into account potential side effects of IFC on different forest types. Therefore we assessed ecosystem services (carbon stocks, timber volume) and species richness in landscapes with and without IFC. Additionally, we evaluated potential side-effects of IFC in adjacent forest types; hypothesizing potential leakage effects of IFC. Finally, we tested if deforestation rates decreased after IFC implementation. Forest inventories were conducted in 72 plots across eight landscapes in the Ecuadorian Central Amazon with and without IFC. Plots were randomly selected within three forest types (old-growth, logged and successional forests). In each plot all individuals with a diameter at breast height greater than 10 cm were measured. Old-growth forests in general showed higher carbon stocks, timber volume and species richness, and no significant differences between old-growth forests in IFC and non-IFC landscapes were found. Logged forests had 32% less above-ground carbon (AGC) and timber volume in comparison to old-growth forests. Surprisingly, logged forests near IFC presented higher AGC stocks than logged forests in non-IFC landscapes, indicating positive side-effects of IFC. Successional forests contain 56% to 64% of AGC, total carbon and timber volume, in comparison to old-growth forests, and 82% to 87% in comparison to logged forests. Therefore, successional forests could play an important role for restoration and should receive more attention in national climate change policies. Finally, after IFC implementation deforestation rate decreased on parish level. Our study presents scientific evidence of IFC contribution to conserving ecosystem services and species richness. In addition IFC could help indirectly to reduce degradation effects attributed to logging, indicating potential compatibility of conservation aims with forest activities at a landscape level. Full article