IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcli/v10y2020i9d10.1038_s41558-020-0856-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic and social constraints on reforestation for climate mitigation in Southeast Asia

Author

Listed:
  • Yiwen Zeng

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Tasya Vadya Sarira

    (The University of Adelaide)

  • L. Roman Carrasco

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Kwek Yan Chong

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Daniel A. Friess

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Janice Ser Huay Lee

    (Nanyang Technological University of Singapore)

  • Pierre Taillardat

    (GEOTOP, Université du Québec à Montréal)

  • Thomas A. Worthington

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Yuchen Zhang

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Lian Pin Koh

    (National University of Singapore)

Abstract

As climate change continues to threaten human and natural systems, the search for cost-effective and practical mitigation solutions is gaining momentum. Reforestation has recently been identified as a promising nature-based climate solution. Yet there are context-dependent biophysical, financial, land-use and operational constraints to reforestation that demand careful consideration. Here, we show that 121 million ha of presently degraded land in Southeast Asia, a region noted for its significant reforestation potential, are biophysically suitable for reforestation. Reforestation of this land would contribute 3.43 ± 1.29 PgCO2e yr−1 to climate mitigation through 2030. However, by taking a combination of on-the-ground financial, land use and operational constraints into account, we find that only a fraction of that mitigation potential may be achievable (0.3–18%). Such constraints are not insurmountable, but they show that careful planning and consideration are needed for effective landscape-scale reforestation.

Suggested Citation

  • Yiwen Zeng & Tasya Vadya Sarira & L. Roman Carrasco & Kwek Yan Chong & Daniel A. Friess & Janice Ser Huay Lee & Pierre Taillardat & Thomas A. Worthington & Yuchen Zhang & Lian Pin Koh, 2020. "Economic and social constraints on reforestation for climate mitigation in Southeast Asia," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 10(9), pages 842-844, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:10:y:2020:i:9:d:10.1038_s41558-020-0856-3
    DOI: 10.1038/s41558-020-0856-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0856-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41558-020-0856-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aryal, Jeetendra P., 2022. "Contribution of Agriculture to Climate Change and Low-Emission Agricultural Development in Asia and the Pacific," ADBI Working Papers 1340, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    2. Qiming Zheng & Tim Ha & Alexander V. Prishchepov & Yiwen Zeng & He Yin & Lian Pin Koh, 2023. "The neglected role of abandoned cropland in supporting both food security and climate change mitigation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Rana, Pushpendra & Fleischman, Forrest & Ramprasad, Vijay & Lee, Kangjae, 2022. "Predicting wasteful spending in tree planting programs in Indian Himalaya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    4. Fuller, Madisen & Baker, Justin & Roberts, Zoey & Latta, Gret & Ohrel, Sara & Gower, Tom, 2023. "Projecting the spatial distribution of tree planting under different policy incentive structures," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 337099, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:10:y:2020:i:9:d:10.1038_s41558-020-0856-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.