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The Net Carbon Emissions from Historic Land Use and Land Use Change

Author

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  • Mendelsohn, Robert
  • Sohngen, Brent

Abstract

Deforestation from timber harvests and farmland conversions have led to 565 GtCO2 (billion tons of carbon dioxide) being emitted into the atmosphere. Taking into account natural regeneration on forestland, Houghton (2003, 2008) and Houghton et al. (2012) estimate that deforestation has caused a net loss of 484 GtCO2 since 1900 which is about one third of all manmade emissions. However, these estimates do not take into account the substantial investment into fire management, plantations, and replanting since 1950, as well as the effect of carbon fertilization on a younger forest. We compare the outcome of a deforestation scenario with subsequent forest management with what would have happened if the natural forest in 1900 had not been harvested thereafter. Deforestation plus forest management suggests current forests actually hold about 94 GtCO2 more today than they did in 1900. However, natural forests would have held an additional 186 GtCO2. Human activities on forestland have therefore caused about 92 GtCO2 of net emissions since 1900. The effect of manmade land use and land use change is relatively small compared to the 1294 GtCO2 from industrial emissions over the same time period (Marland et al., 2008).

Suggested Citation

  • Mendelsohn, Robert & Sohngen, Brent, 2019. "The Net Carbon Emissions from Historic Land Use and Land Use Change," Journal of Forest Economics, now publishers, vol. 34(3-4), pages 263-283, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:now:jnljfe:112.00000505
    DOI: 10.1561/112.00000505
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Favero, Alice & Sohngen, Brent & Hamilton, W. Parker, 2022. "Climate change and timber in Latin America: Will the forestry sector flourish under climate change?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    2. Daigneault, Adam & Simons-Legaard, Erin & Weiskittel, Aaron, 2024. "Tradeoffs and synergies of optimized management for maximizing carbon sequestration across complex landscapes and diverse ecosystem services," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    3. Min Liu & Yinrong Chen & Kun Chen & Yi Chen, 2023. "Progress and Hotspots of Research on Land-Use Carbon Emissions: A Global Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-23, April.
    4. Meijiao Li & Fanneng He & Fan Yang & Ruifei Hao, 2024. "Per Capita Cropland Estimations for Traditional Agricultural Areas of China over Past Millennium," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-23, July.
    5. Canying Zeng & Shaohua Wu & Hua Zhou & Min Cheng, 2022. "The Impact of Urbanization Growth Patterns on Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Evidence from Guizhou, West of China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-18, August.
    6. Fan Yang & Shicheng Li & Yang Gao & Meijiao Li & Pengfei Wu, 2022. "Inconsistent Carbon Budget Estimation Using Dynamic/Static Carbon Density under Land Use and Land Cover Change: A Case Study in Henan Province, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-14, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Climate change; Land use change; Forest carbon; Carbon emissions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • Q23 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Forestry
    • Q10 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - General

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