Controlled Burning of Natural Environments Could Help Offset Our Carbon Emissions
Published:29 Dec.2021 Source:University of Cambridge
Planting trees and suppressing wildfires do not necessarily maximise the carbon storage of natural ecosystems. A new study has found that prescribed burning can actually lock in or increase carbon in the soils of temperate forests, savannahs and grasslands.
The finding points to a new method of manipulating the world's natural capacity for carbon capture and storage, which can also help to maintain natural ecosystem processes. The results are published today in the journal Nature Geoscience.