- Strassburg, Bernardo B. N.
- Kelly, Annabel
- Balmford, Andrew
- Davies, Richard G.
- Gibbs, Holly K.
- Lovett, Andrew
- Miles, Lera
- Orme, C. David L.
- Price, Jeff
- Turner, R. Kerry
- Rodrigues, Ana S. L.
Deforestation is a main driver of climate change and biodiversity loss. An incentive mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) is being negotiated under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Here we use the best available global data sets on terrestrial biodiversity and carbon storage to map and investigate potential synergies between carbon and biodiversity-oriented conservation. A strong association (r(S) = 0.82) between carbon stocks and species richness suggests that such synergies would be high, but unevenly distributed. Many areas of high value for biodiversity could be protected by carbon-based conservation, while others could benefit from complementary funding arising from their carbon content. Some high-biodiversity regions, however, would not benefit from carbon-focused conservation, and could become under increased pressure if REDD is implemented. Our results suggest that additional gains for biodiversity conservation are possible, without compromising the effectiveness for climate change mitigation, if REDD takes biodiversity distribution into account.
- Biodiversity
- climate change
- deforestation
- REDD
- cobenefits
- biological conservation
- carbon stocks
- UNFCCC
- CBD
- ecosystem services
- AMAZON RAIN-FOREST
- CLIMATE-CHANGE
- TROPICAL FORESTS
- DIVERSITY
- LAND
- DEFORESTATION
- EXTINCTIONS
- EMISSIONS
- STABILITY
- THREAT
[Strassburg, Bernardo B. N.] GAEA Inst Global Appl Environm Anal, BR-22450130 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; [Strassburg, Bernardo B. N.; Lovett, Andrew; Turner, R. Kerry] Univ E Anglia, Sch Environm Sci, Ctr Social & Econ Res Global Environm, Norwich NR4 7TJ, Norfolk, England; [Balmford, Andrew] Univ Cambridge, Dept Zool, Conservat Sci Grp, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, England; [Davies, Richard G.] Univ E Anglia, Sch Biol Sci, Norwich NR4 7TJ, Norfolk, England; [Gibbs, Holly K.] Stanford Univ, Program Food Secur & Environm, Woods Inst Environm, Stanford, CA 94305 USA; [Miles, Lera] United Nations Environm Programme World Conservat, Climate Change & Biodivers Programme, Cambridge CB3 0DL, England; [Orme, C. David L.] Univ London Imperial Coll Sci Technol & Med, Div Biol, Ascot SL5 7PY, Berks, England; [Price, Jeff] World Wildlife Fund US, Washington, DC 20037 USA; [Price, Jeff] Calif State Univ Chico, Coll Nat Sci, Chico, CA 95929 USA; [Rodrigues, Ana S. L.] CNRS, UMR5175, Ctr Ecol Fonct & Evolut, F-34293 Montpellier, France
Strassburg, BBN (reprint author), GAEA Inst Global Appl Environm Anal, BR-22450130 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.