Forest Carbon Stores Overestimated By One Third

A new paper from Stanford University the Peruvian Government and WWF has demonstrated that forest carbon stores in Amazon forests have been overestimated by approximately one third.

The paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, studied an area covering 4.3 million ha in the Peruvian Amazon. Researchers used a combination satellite imaging, aerial photography and ground-truthing to construct a carbon ‘map’ of the area. They discovered that carbon stores varied greatly across the area.

More significantly, researchers estimate the total carbon storage in the area during the period was 395 million tonnes. Yet the IPCC method for estimating the area’s carbon stores was 587 million tonnes – a 32 per cent discrepancy.

Tropical countries hoping to make a fortune in ‘forest carbon’ payments should take note.

Read the full paper here.