• Energy Research

The potential for global forest cover The restoration of forested land at a global scale could help capture atmospheric carbon and mitigate climate change. Bastin et al. used direct measurements of forest cover to generate a model of forest restoration potential across the globe (see the Perspective by Chazdon and Brancalion). Their spatially explicit maps show how much additional tree cover could exist outside of existing forests and agricultural and urban land. Ecosystems could support an additional 0.9 billion hectares of continuous forest. This would represent a greater than 25% increase in forested area, including more than 200 gigatonnes of additional carbon at maturity.Such a change has the potential to store an equivalent of 25% of the current atmospheric carbon pool. Science , this issue p. 76 ; see also p. 24

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Science 334, 230-232 (2011). doi:10.1126/science.1210465 Medline"]} Bastin, Jean-Francois, Finegold, Yelena, Garcia, Claude, Mollicone, Danilo, Routh, Devin, Zohner, Constantin M., Crowther, Thomas W. (2019): Supplementary Material for The global tree restoration potential. Science 365: 1-25, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3268853, URL: science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6448/76/suppl/DC1

Our study quantified the global tree restoration potential and its associated carbon storage potential under existing climate conditions. We received multiple technical comments, both supporting and disputing our findings. We recognize that several issues raised in these comments are worthy of discussion. We therefore provide a detailed common answer where we show that our original estimations are accurate.

Our study quantified the global tree restoration potential and its associated carbon storage potential under existing climate conditions. Skidmore et al . dispute our findings, using as reference a yearly estimation of carbon storage that could be reached by 2050. We provide a detailed answer highlighting misunderstandings in their interpretation, notably that we did not consider any time limit for the restoration process.