Creating corridors in the tropics based on carbon stock

In the tropics, where aboveground biomass is high and represents a large amount of stored carbon, using carbon stock to delineate corridors represents one potential method for maintaining connectivity in the face of deforestation and climate change.  In their recent paper in Nature Climate Change, Jantz et al. look at the utility of creating corridors between existing protected areas in forested (and some non-forested) regions based on vegetative carbon stock.  By preserving connections that already contain high biomass, the hope is that they can serve as a cost-effective and globally applicable mitigation plan in the face of further forest loss and habitat fragmentation.

Their analysis was two-fold.  First, they used updated, high resolution maps of carbon stock in tropical regions across the globe to derive over 16,000 corridors between 5,600 protected areas.  Over half of the corridors were at least as dense in carbon stock as the protected areas they anchored, with corridors in Africa showing much higher carbon stock relative to protected areas than those in South America or Asia.  These corridors also contained a significant amount of carbon stock relative to the region as a whole.  Second, they focused more specifically on corridors in the Amazon region and closely evaluated them according to carbon stock levels, biodiversity and deforestation threat.  Combined with an evaluation of economic opportunity cost, they provide practical suggestions for designating and implementing corridors that consider both economic and social factors.  With this new methodology, delineating corridors based on carbon stock in tropical regions provides a new tool to customize spatial arrangements of corridors and maintain connectivity in response to climate change.