The Potential of Mountain Forests in Carbon Capture: A Global Perspective on Local Landscape Resilience

The world’s forests are today a prime venue for carbon capture to reduce net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and by this means to slow or reverse global warming and thereby to moderate warming’s negative consequences. To what degree does this current capacity extend to forests on mountainous terrain? Can or should this capacity be further nurtured? How can we improve our ability to estimate mountain forest sequestration potential both now and in the future under alternate scenarios? Many nations are now said to have pledged to achieve net zero by 2050 by emitting no more carbon dioxide — principally in energy production — than they can absorb and retain, hence sequester. Sequestration is thus elevated in partnership with emissions reduction — the shift to nuclear and the renewables and through energy-user efficiencies. Sequestration moreover offers a near-term buffer as we search for cleaner and more cost-effective energy technologies. In the longer term sequestration itself may become more efficacious hence more able to share the burden of GHG reduction. Despite a burgeoning literature, however, methodologies have yet to evolve with which to gauge the sequestration potential of the oceans, wetlands, soils, and forest biomes. This narrative considers both the necessity and pitfalls associated with the need to estimate mountain forest sequestration potential. Just how determined must we be to elevate carbon sequestration potentials in mountain forests is found here to depend on 1) the ease with which such an end can be achieved, 2) the opportunity costs incurred in achieving this end, 3) the efficacy and mutuality of alternative uses and activities that could be pursued on mountain landscapes, 4) the comparative efficacy of alternate oceanic and terrestrial carbon sinks, and 5) the cost-effectiveness of decarbonization approaches in the energy sector itself.