By Michael Gennaro, Courthouse News Service
California’s native habitats can be used as valuable carbon sinks to help combat the climate crisis, according to a report released Monday by the Center for Biological Diversity.
In the report Hidden in Plain Sight, the center finds the carbon-storing benefits of trees and forests in California are often recognized by developers and policymakers, but the benefits of other habitats in the state, such as shrublands, grasslands, deserts and riparian corridors, are often overlooked even though they can function as important carbon sinks.
Carbon sinks absorb carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, reducing its presence in the air. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses can act as a blanket on the planet, trapping heat and worsening heat waves.
“The record-breaking heat waves are yet another alarm demanding that we take the climate emergency seriously and open our eyes to conservation’s role in limiting warming,” said Tiffany Yap, a senior scientist at the center and lead author of the report. “We’re missing opportunities to combat the climate crisis in our own backyard when we pave over intact ecosystems. We have to do more to confront this global emergency now.”
According to the report, developers and state decisionmakers dismiss some local ecosystems as carbon sink sites, instead focusing on forests and tree-planting projects or carbon-offset programs.
These carbon-offset programs often prioritize faraway forests, and the tree-planting initiatives are “not based on science,” the report authors say, noting that large-scale tree planting projects over the last 50 years increase tree mortality rates and have not led to the promised carbon storage or sequestration gains.
Although trees and forests store the most carbon compared to other ecosystems, other habitats can also serve as carbon sinks and help the climate.
For example, habitats in arid or semi-arid regions can store large amounts of carbon and are drought resistant. Underground areas of native grasslands can also store as much or more carbon than trees, according to the report. These areas are also rich in biodiversity and provide open space to Californians. Habitats near rivers increase water infiltration and groundwater replenishment.
The preservation of these areas would also bring the state closer to Governor Gavin Newsom’s “30 by 30” executive order, which aims to conserve 30% of California’s lands and coastal waters by 2030.
“Protecting California’s dwindling wildlife habitats goes far beyond carbon sequestration. It also protects our state’s rich biodiversity, reduces wildfire risks and offers equitable access to open space,” said Yap. “These common sense strategies to combat the climate emergency are available right now. We just need our leaders to deploy them.”
The report found that when developments go through California Environmental Quality Act review, officials ignore or underestimate the loss of carbon storage caused by habitat destruction during development. Tree planting projects and carbon credits are used to make up for a new development’s carbon emissions, but the report finds that habitat conservation measures can be used and are more beneficial to the climate.
Instead, the center recommends a “comprehensive and accurate” accounting of carbon storage and sequestration loss during the approval process of development projects. Policymakers should prioritize habitat conservation and make smarter land-use decisions.
This post was first published at the Courthouse News Service.
