Protected forests may slow climate change

The research, led by the World Wildlife Fund, recommends incorporating protected areas into overall strategies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses from deforestation and degradation.

"Deforestation leads to about 15 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, more than all the cars, trucks, trains, ships and planes on Earth," said Taylor Ricketts, director of the WWF's science program and lead author of the study. "If we fail to reduce it, we'll fail to stabilize our climate."

The researchers said analyses show that since 2002, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has been seven to 11 times lower inside indigenous lands and other protected areas than elsewhere. Simulation models suggest protected areas established between 2003 and 2007 could prevent an estimated area of 100,000 square miles of deforestation through 2050. That, they said, represents enough carbon to equal one-third of the world's annual CO2 emissions.

"This study reinforces the wisdom behind global investments in protected areas," said Gustavo A.B. da Fonseca of the Global Environment Facility and a study co-author. "In addition to protecting globally important species and ecosystems, the 2,302 protected areas supported by the GEF alone span over 634 million hectares and together store an impressive 30 billion tons of CO2."
The study appears in the journal PLoS Biology.

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