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The value of carbon stored in mountains

08.09.2016

Adrian Ward, focal point of the University of Queensland’s CarbonLab is sharing his recently completed doctoral thesis revealing the economic value of carbon dioxide sequestered by mountain grasslands and shrublands is between USD 1.24 billion and 11.8 billion per annum, in climate regulation terms. His thesis, “The extent and value of carbon stored in mountain grasslands and shrublands globally, and the prospects for using climate finance to address natural resource management issues” provides an estimate of the amount of carbon contained within the biomass of mountain grasslands and shrublands compared to the amount of carbon contained in terrestrial and wetland forests, marine ecosystems and lowland grasslands. This amount, Ward argues, has not been reliably accounted for in international climate budgets.

Ward’s research also supports priority natural resource management actions in mountain grassland and shrubland ecosystems and could be consulted for climate policy making. “These results provide a baseline estimate and methodology with which to monitor and manage these carbon stocks. This baseline has direct application for improving the precision of mountain grasslands and shrubland carbon accounting modalities issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and carbon offset measurement methodologies e.g. the Verified Carbon Standard,” according to the abstract of Ward’s thesis.

As listed in table 9 in Ward’s thesis, the equivalent in-situ value of this carbon stock is estimated to be between USD 2.5 ± 0.43 trillion and USD 26.5 ± 4.1 trillion (2007 dollars). This range would be even wider if researchers and policymakers considered the full array of estimates for social cost of carbon (SCC). Even at the most conservative estimate of USD 2.5 trillion, mountain grasslands and shrublands are arguably significant environmental assets when only avoided SCC is considered. If one was to include a value for water provision, slope stability and the many other ecosystem services provided by mountain grassland and shrubland ecosystems, then this estimate would be far higher. It is the existing carbon stocks in biomass and soil that have built up over a long period of time and are relatively untouched compared to tropical forests and peatlands, that are of critical importance. “We need policies that incentivize conservation in order to ensure these stocks stay as they are,” said Ward. 

This thesis could provide input for other studies that previously excluded estimates for carbon in alpine areas. Ward writes, “The estimates for carbon stocks, carbon dioxide sequestration and economic value provided herein justify further investigation of how carbon markets and climate finance might be used specifically to address the factors influencing degradation in mountain grasslands and shrublands around the world.”

Photo: UNDP Flickr/UNDP Armenia

 thesis Adrian Ward.pdf