Strengthening the carbon sink

So far this week, we’ve looked at sustainable agriculture and improving food security in the wake of climate change. Over the next three steps we’ll learn about how to mitigate climate change by strengthening the terrestrial biosphere.

The terrestrial biosphere encompasses all land vegetation, including the world’s forests. It is important to strengthen the terrestrial biosphere because photosynthesis results in an exchange of atmospheric carbon dioxide for oxygen. This means it is a natural way to sequester anthropogenic carbon emissions.

In 2015, the Paris agreement pledged to keep carbon emissions within the capability of the terrestrial biosphere’s natural sequestration potential. This means we shouldn’t be putting more carbon into the atmosphere than the biosphere can remove. Another key part was a pledge to increase forest stocks across the world and do everything possible to strengthen natural carbon sinks.

In this video, Dr Iain Hartley explores the terrestrial biosphere sink further and the puzzle of the ‘missing carbon sink’.