Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 17, 2025
08:18
Design and Use of a Full Flow Sampling System FFS for the Quantification of Methane Emissions
Published on: June 12, 2016
16.9K
Land-based measures to mitigate climate change: Potential and feasibility by country
Stephanie Roe1,2, Charlotte Streck2,3, Robert Beach4
1Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
Global Change Biology
|October 12, 2021
Summary
Cost-effective land-based climate mitigation offers 8–13.8 GtCO2eq/yr through 2050, primarily from ecosystems and agriculture. Realizing this potential requires addressing feasibility barriers, especially in developing nations.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Climate Policy
- Land Use Management
Background:
- Land-based climate mitigation is crucial for global climate policies.
- Previous studies estimated mitigation potentials, but require refinement and updated assessments.
- Integrated assessment models (IAMs) and sectoral estimates offer different perspectives on mitigation capacity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To refine and update land-based mitigation potentials for over 200 countries and five regions.
- To compare "bottom-up" sectoral estimates with IAMs for mitigation potentials.
- To assess the implementation feasibility of land-based mitigation measures at the country level.
Main Methods:
- Quantified mitigation potentials for 20 land-based measures across >200 countries and five regions.
- Compared sectoral estimates with integrated assessment models (IAMs).
- Assessed country-level implementation feasibility, considering governance, economic, and socio-cultural factors.
Main Results:
- Cost-effective land-based mitigation potential (up to $100/tCO2eq) is 8–13.8 GtCO2eq/yr between 2020–2050.
- Cost-effective potential represents ~40% of technical potential and aligns with a 1.5°C pathway.
- Forests/ecosystems (50%), agriculture (35%), and demand-side measures (15%) are key contributors; potential varies sixfold across regions.
- Feasibility is influenced by governance, investment, and socio-cultural factors, with 80% of potential in developing countries/LDCs.
Conclusions:
- Cost-effective land-based mitigation is substantial and actionable for policy.
- Forest protection and demand-side measures offer high efficiency, co-benefits, and lower costs.
- Overcoming feasibility barriers in developing countries is critical for near-term, low-cost mitigation and achieving adaptation/development benefits.
- Tailored, country-specific plans and enhanced investments are essential to unlock global land stewardship potential.
Related Concept Videos
01:16What is Climate?
19.4K
Climate refers to the prevailing weather conditions in a specific area over an extended period. As the saying goes, “Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get.” Climate is influenced by geographic factors, such as latitude, terrain, and proximity to bodies of water.
19.4K
01:50Global Climate Change
25.2K
Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.
25.2K
01:50Threats to Biodiversity
23.8K
There have been five major extinction events throughout geological history, resulting in the elimination of biodiversity, followed by a rebound of species that adapted to the new conditions. In the current geological epoch, the Holocene, there is a sixth extinction event in progress. This mass extinction has been attributed to human activities and is thus provisionally called the Anthropocene. In 2019 the human population reached 7.7 billion people and is projected to comprise 10 billion by...
23.8K
01:57Adaptations that Reduce Water Loss
26.9K
Though evaporation from plant leaves drives transpiration, it also results in loss of water. Because water is critical for photosynthetic reactions and other cellular processes, evolutionary pressures on plants in different environments have driven the acquisition of adaptations that reduce water loss.
26.9K
01:17Radiation: Applications
1.3K
The average temperature of Earth is the subject of much current discussion. Earth is in radiative contact with both the Sun and dark space; it receives almost all its energy from the radiation of the Sun and reflects some of it into outer space. Dark space is very cold, about 3 K, so Earth radiates energy into it. For instance, heat transfer occurs from soil and grasses, the rate of which can be so rapid that frost can occur on clear summer evenings, even in warm latitudes.
The average...
The average...
1.3K
01:17Design Example: Analyzing Capacity Contours for Flood Risk Assessment
153
Flood risk assessment involves careful planning and analysis to ensure the safety of communities near water retention structures. Capacity contours are a vital tool in this process, as they illustrate the potential spread of water at specific levels in a given area. In the context of building a bund across a small valley, these contours play a critical role in evaluating the safety of nearby residential areas.In this example, the bund is intended to store stormwater in the valley. The engineers...
153