The climatic impacts of land surface change and carbon management, and the implications for climate-change mitigation policy

Marland, Gregg; Pielke, Roger A.; Apps, Mike; Avissar, Roni; Betts, Richard; Davis, Kenneth J.; Frumhoff, Peter C.; Jackson, Stephen T.; Joyce, Linda A.; Kauppi, Pekka E.; Katzenberger, J.; MacDicken, K.G.; Neilson, Ronald P.; Niles, John O.; Niyogi, Dev; Norby, R. J.; Peña, Naomi; Sampson, Neil; Xue, Yongkang

doi:10.1016/s1469-3062(03)00028-7

Cited by 81 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Current climate-change mitigation policies do not sufficiently incorporate the effects of changes in land surface and land management on the surface albedo, the fluxes of heat and moisture in the atmosphere, and the distribution of energy within the climate system. 17 Given the goal of mitigating climate change at local, regional, and global scales, it won't suffice to frame the problem simply in terms of greenhouse-gas-induced warming; one must consider threats posed by the entire climate system-and work toward a fuller understanding of that system.…”

Section: Reframing Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land’s complex role in climate change

Pielke¹,

Mahmood²,

McAlpine³

2016

Physics Today

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Section: Reframing Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land’s complex role in climate change

Pielke¹,

Mahmood²,

McAlpine³

2016

Physics Today

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“…Although the complexity of quantifying ecosystem climate services presents a challenge for policy 4,7,9,30 , ignoring biophysical processes may lead to suboptimal land-use policies 1,2,4,[7][8][9][10] . By combining GHGV (ref.…”

Section: Letters Nature Climate Change Doi: 101038/nclimate1346mentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate-regulation services of natural and agricultural ecoregions of the Americas

et al. 2012

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Terrestrial ecosystems regulate climate through both biogeochemical (greenhouse-gas regulation) and biophysical (regulation of water and energy) mechanisms 1,2 . However, policies aimed at climate protection through land management, including REDD+ (where REDD is Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) 3 and bioenergy sustainability standards 4 , account only for biogeochemical mechanisms. By ignoring biophysical processes, which sometimes offset biogeochemical effects 5,6 , policies risk promoting suboptimal solutions 1,2,4,7-10 . Here, we quantify how biogeochemical 11 and biophysical processes combine to shape the climate regulation values of 18 natural and agricultural ecoregions across the Americas. Natural ecosystems generally had higher climate regulation values than agroecosystems, largely driven by differences in biogeochemical services. Biophysical contributions ranged from minimal to dominant. They were highly variable in space, and their relative importance varied with the spatio-temporal scale of analysis. Our findings reinforce the importance of protecting tropical forests 7,10,12,13 , show that northern forests have a relatively small net effect on climate 5,10,13 , and indicate that climatic effects of bioenergy production may be more positive when biophysical processes are considered 14,15 . Ensuring effective climate protection through land management requires consideration of combined biogeochemical and biophysical processes 7,8 . Our climate regulation value index serves as one potential approach to quantify the full climate services of terrestrial ecosystems.Anthropogenic land use has been, and will continue to be, a major driver of the climate system 6,[16][17][18] . In terms of biogeochemical drivers, land-use change and agriculture together account for over 25% of global greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions 19 . From 1990 to 2007, gross CO 2 emissions from tropical deforestation were equal to ∼40% of global fossil fuel emissions 18 . In recent years, agriculture has contributed ∼14% of total global GHG emissions 19,20 .Terrestrial ecosystems also strongly affect climate through their control over albedo and evapotransipiration 5,6,8,16,21,22 . Vegetated surfaces-especially forests-typically have lower albedos than bare ground and therefore absorb more incoming solar radiation. The reduction in net radiation (R n ) associated with deforestation has a cooling effect on the climate 5,22,23 -sometimes even outweighing GHG-induced warming 5,18 . Counteracting this, clearing vegetation reduces evapotranspiration and associated latent heat flux (LE). Without the vegetation, energy normally used to evaporate water instead heats the land surface 6,8,14,22,23 . Understanding the counteracting effects of R n and LE is key to quantifying the climate regulation values (CRVs) of different ecosystems 1 .Policies that affect land use may serve as one effective strategy contributing to climate change mitigation 2,12 or may inadvertently exacerbate the problem 24 . Major national and intern...

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“…It is well known that irrigation is, by far, the largest water user in terms of liquid water withdrawal from rivers and aquifers (5,6) and that human modification of the hydrological cycle has profoundly affected the flow of liquid water across the Earth's land surface (7)(8)(9)(10). Alteration of water vapor flows through land-use and land-cover changes has received less attention, compared to liquid flows, although there is compelling evidence that such alterations can influence the functioning of the Earth System (11)(12)(13)(14)(15).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Human modification of global water vapor flows from the land surface

Gordon

Steffen

Jönsson

et al. 2005

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

341

262

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It is well documented that human modification of the hydrological cycle has profoundly affected the flow of liquid water across the Earth's land surface. Alteration of water vapor flows through land-use changes has received comparatively less attention, despite compelling evidence that such alteration can influence the functioning of the Earth System. We show that deforestation is as large a driving force as irrigation in terms of changes in the hydrological cycle. Deforestation has decreased global vapor flows from land by 4% (3,000 km 3 ͞yr), a decrease that is quantitatively as large as the increased vapor flow caused by irrigation (2,600 km 3 ͞yr). Although the net change in global vapor flows is close to zero, the spatial distributions of deforestation and irrigation are different, leading to major regional transformations of vapor-flow patterns. We analyze these changes in the light of future landuse-change projections that suggest widespread deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa and intensification of agricultural production in the Asian monsoon region. Furthermore, significant modification of vapor flows in the lands around the Indian Ocean basin will increase the risk for changes in the behavior of the Asian monsoon system. This analysis suggests that the need to increase food production in one region may affect the capability to increase food production in another. At the scale of the Earth as a whole, our results emphasize the need for climate models to take land-use change, in both land cover and irrigation, into account.deforestation ͉ irrigation ͉ land-use changes ͉ climate change ͉ evapotranspiration

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The climatic impacts of land surface change and carbon management, and the implications for climate-change mitigation policy

Cited by 81 publications

References 23 publications

Land’s complex role in climate change

Land’s complex role in climate change

Climate-regulation services of natural and agricultural ecoregions of the Americas

Human modification of global water vapor flows from the land surface

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