COP28: Leading scientists release national data on land carbon critical to Global Stocktake

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have made commitments under the Paris Agreement to reduce net emissions through submitted NDCs that include the forest sector. These countries are encouraged to take action to prevent long-term carbon losses and to enhance carbon stocks through improved management toward quantifiable climate mitigation targets.

Dr. Thelma Krug, Vice Chair of the IPCC for the Sixth Cycle and former researcher at the National Institute of Space Research (INPE) in Brazil, said: "Reducing deforestation and restoring ecosystems are relevant and cost-effective land-based activities that contribute to climate change mitigation and biodiversity. But too few countries have the accurate data they need to design policies, target their investments, and verify their progress. This data levels the playing field for all countries to have access to cutting-edge data resources to support their efforts to implement natural climate options."

CTrees' JMRV tool gives countries the tools to measure and verify concrete, quantifiable goals on forest protection and nature-based solutions. Its use of machine learning and sophisticated satellite imaging provides a more accurate and frequently available alternative to what forestry ministries currently can do alone when tracking carbon.

Findings from the 2022 data include:

Deforestation across the tropics remained high at more than 4.5 gigatons of CO2e and increased slightly in 2022 by about 5%.However, there were significant reductions in deforestation in key regions:Indonesia's emissions from deforestation and degradation continued to drop in 2022 by about 56% and 87%, respectively, following the National Low Carbon Development and One Map policies implemented starting in 2016.The Congo Basin in Central Africa also experienced lower emissions from deforestation and degradation by more than 10%.In Latin America, emissions did not change significantly throughout 2022 but started to decline in 2023, mostly due to Brazil's new regulations. CTrees' land use change alert platform (LUCA) shows more than a 45% reduction in deforestation in Brazil as a result of the new government policies.Globally, the removal of carbon dioxide by forests remains stable, with some variations across countries.The US carbon sink improved significantly (more than 30%) in 2022 as compared to 2021, largely due to the reduction of wildfires in the western states.During the same period, Canada's net forest carbon sink continued to decline because of droughts and wildfires.

New features in version 2.0 of the JMRV tool include:

2022 data for all statistics22 years of historical annual data, from 2001-2022Calculate averages for any selected periodDownload function for CSV data and PNG image files for each chart2022 map of aboveground carbon stocks (replacing 2021 version)Data on area of forest and non-forest for each jurisdictionNew web interface

The JMRV data explorer is now available on the CTrees website. To learn more about the updated CTrees' JMRV data tool and services, please visit the CTrees website here.

CTrees is also the creator of the Land Use Change Alerts (LUCA) tool, the world's first global radar-based forest disturbance alert system, providing information every two weeks on where and when deforestation and degradation in forests occur anywhere in the world, in almost any weather condition.

Led by?Dr. Sassan Saatchi, a senior scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and a team of scientists and data engineers in the U.S., Brazil, Denmark, and France, CTrees is built on more than 20 years of research and development at the world's leading universities and space agencies.

Media Contact 

Alexander Bryden, Browning Environmental Communications 
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About CTrees

CTrees is a non-profit organization that tracks carbon in every tree and forest on the planet. Led by an international team of scientists and engineers, CTrees delivers science-driven data on forest carbon to governments, companies, and organizations seeking to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation and restore forests at all scales: https://ctrees.org.

 

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