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Global carbon stocks and potential emissions due to mangrove deforestation from 2000 to 2012

Abstract

Mangrove forests store high densities of organic carbon, which, when coupled with high rates of deforestation, means that mangroves have the potential to contribute substantially to carbon emissions. Consequently, mangroves are strong candidates for inclusion in nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and payments for ecosystem services (PES) programmes that financially incentivize the conservation of forested carbon stocks. This study quantifies annual mangrove carbon stocks from 2000 to 2012 at the global, national and sub-national levels, and global carbon emissions resulting from deforestation over the same time period. Globally, mangroves stored 4.19 Pg of carbon in 2012, with Indonesia, Brazil, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea accounting for more than 50% of the global stock. 2.96 Pg of the global carbon stock is contained within the soil and 1.23 Pg in the living biomass. Two percent of global mangrove carbon was lost between 2000 and 2012, equivalent to a maximum potential of 316,996,250 t of CO2 emissions.

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Fig. 1: Global distribution of mangrove ecosystem carbon stocks per pool for 2012.
Fig. 2: Global mangrove carbon losses, 2000–2012.

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Acknowledgements

This study benefited from access to some pre-existing remote sensing and modelling data sets, particularly the Global Forest Cover data set from the University of Maryland.

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Contributions

S.E.H. developed the equations, designed the study and carried out the analysis. S.E.H. wrote the Methods section and created the figures and tables. D.A.F. designed the framework for the paper and wrote the majority of the main text apart from the Methods.

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Correspondence to Stuart E. Hamilton.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figures 1–2, Error and Uncertainty Analysis, Supplementary Discussion, Supplementary Tables 3–5 and Supplementary References

Supplementary Table 1

Extends Table 1 in the manuscript to all 105 mangrove-holding level one administrative units globally

Supplementary Table 2

Extends Table 2 in the manuscript to all 752 mangrove-holding level one administrative units globally

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Hamilton, S.E., Friess, D.A. Global carbon stocks and potential emissions due to mangrove deforestation from 2000 to 2012. Nature Clim Change 8, 240–244 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0090-4

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