Trees on smallholder farms and forest restoration are critical for Rwanda to achieve net zero emissions

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Standard

Trees on smallholder farms and forest restoration are critical for Rwanda to achieve net zero emissions. / Mugabowindekwe, Maurice; Brandt, Martin; Mukuralinda, Athanase; Ciais, Philippe; Reiner, Florian; Kariryaa, Ankit; Igel, Christian; Chave, Jérôme; Mertz, Ole; Hiernaux, Pierre; Tong, Xiaoye; Rwanyiziri, Gaspard; Gominski, Dimitri; Li, Sizhuo; Liu, Siyu; Gasangwa, Ivan; Hategekimana, Yves; Ndoli, Alain; Nduwamungu, Jean; Saatchi, Sassan; Fensholt, Rasmus.

In: Communications Earth & Environment, Vol. 5, No. 1, 113, 2024.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Mugabowindekwe, M, Brandt, M, Mukuralinda, A, Ciais, P, Reiner, F, Kariryaa, A, Igel, C, Chave, J, Mertz, O, Hiernaux, P, Tong, X, Rwanyiziri, G, Gominski, D, Li, S, Liu, S, Gasangwa, I, Hategekimana, Y, Ndoli, A, Nduwamungu, J, Saatchi, S & Fensholt, R 2024, 'Trees on smallholder farms and forest restoration are critical for Rwanda to achieve net zero emissions', Communications Earth & Environment, vol. 5, no. 1, 113. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01278-x

APA

Mugabowindekwe, M., Brandt, M., Mukuralinda, A., Ciais, P., Reiner, F., Kariryaa, A., Igel, C., Chave, J., Mertz, O., Hiernaux, P., Tong, X., Rwanyiziri, G., Gominski, D., Li, S., Liu, S., Gasangwa, I., Hategekimana, Y., Ndoli, A., Nduwamungu, J., ... Fensholt, R. (2024). Trees on smallholder farms and forest restoration are critical for Rwanda to achieve net zero emissions. Communications Earth & Environment, 5(1), [113]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01278-x

Vancouver

Mugabowindekwe M, Brandt M, Mukuralinda A, Ciais P, Reiner F, Kariryaa A et al. Trees on smallholder farms and forest restoration are critical for Rwanda to achieve net zero emissions. Communications Earth & Environment. 2024;5(1). 113. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01278-x

Author

Mugabowindekwe, Maurice ; Brandt, Martin ; Mukuralinda, Athanase ; Ciais, Philippe ; Reiner, Florian ; Kariryaa, Ankit ; Igel, Christian ; Chave, Jérôme ; Mertz, Ole ; Hiernaux, Pierre ; Tong, Xiaoye ; Rwanyiziri, Gaspard ; Gominski, Dimitri ; Li, Sizhuo ; Liu, Siyu ; Gasangwa, Ivan ; Hategekimana, Yves ; Ndoli, Alain ; Nduwamungu, Jean ; Saatchi, Sassan ; Fensholt, Rasmus. / Trees on smallholder farms and forest restoration are critical for Rwanda to achieve net zero emissions. In: Communications Earth & Environment. 2024 ; Vol. 5, No. 1.

Bibtex

@article{d3e8ae76bc7d42689153a338b20bb93e,
title = "Trees on smallholder farms and forest restoration are critical for Rwanda to achieve net zero emissions",
abstract = "Landscape restoration initiatives are mainly focusing on forest regeneration and agroforestry, especially in the Global South. However, due to a lack of monitoring tools, the carbon balance of restoration efforts remains poorly quantified. Here, we use satellite images from 2008 and 2019 to calculate carbon stocks for individual trees in Rwanda, a country which has been actively engaged in restoration activities over the past decade. We show that smallholder farmers on average planted about 3 trees per farm during 2008–2019, contributing about 50.4 million new trees at the national scale. The overall C sink of the new farmland trees was 0.13 Megagrams of Carbon per hectare per year, which is 6 times lower than gains observed from restoration of degraded forests (0.76 Megagrams of Carbon per hectare per year). If national greenhouse gas emissions remain at the level of 2019, agroforestry (~61% of national area coverage) and continued restoration of degraded natural forests (~0.5% of national area coverage) have the potential to offset about 80% of the national emissions before 2050. Our work monitors and quantifies progress and impact of landscape restoration projects and outlines a pathway to engage smallholder farmers with a limited number of on-farm trees into the expanding carbon market.",
author = "Maurice Mugabowindekwe and Martin Brandt and Athanase Mukuralinda and Philippe Ciais and Florian Reiner and Ankit Kariryaa and Christian Igel and J{\'e}r{\^o}me Chave and Ole Mertz and Pierre Hiernaux and Xiaoye Tong and Gaspard Rwanyiziri and Dimitri Gominski and Sizhuo Li and Siyu Liu and Ivan Gasangwa and Yves Hategekimana and Alain Ndoli and Jean Nduwamungu and Sassan Saatchi and Rasmus Fensholt",
year = "2024",
doi = "10.1038/s43247-024-01278-x",
language = "English",
volume = "5",
journal = "Communications Earth and Environment",
issn = "2662-4435",
publisher = "Nature Research",
number = "1",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Trees on smallholder farms and forest restoration are critical for Rwanda to achieve net zero emissions

AU - Mugabowindekwe, Maurice

AU - Brandt, Martin

AU - Mukuralinda, Athanase

AU - Ciais, Philippe

AU - Reiner, Florian

AU - Kariryaa, Ankit

AU - Igel, Christian

AU - Chave, Jérôme

AU - Mertz, Ole

AU - Hiernaux, Pierre

AU - Tong, Xiaoye

AU - Rwanyiziri, Gaspard

AU - Gominski, Dimitri

AU - Li, Sizhuo

AU - Liu, Siyu

AU - Gasangwa, Ivan

AU - Hategekimana, Yves

AU - Ndoli, Alain

AU - Nduwamungu, Jean

AU - Saatchi, Sassan

AU - Fensholt, Rasmus

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Landscape restoration initiatives are mainly focusing on forest regeneration and agroforestry, especially in the Global South. However, due to a lack of monitoring tools, the carbon balance of restoration efforts remains poorly quantified. Here, we use satellite images from 2008 and 2019 to calculate carbon stocks for individual trees in Rwanda, a country which has been actively engaged in restoration activities over the past decade. We show that smallholder farmers on average planted about 3 trees per farm during 2008–2019, contributing about 50.4 million new trees at the national scale. The overall C sink of the new farmland trees was 0.13 Megagrams of Carbon per hectare per year, which is 6 times lower than gains observed from restoration of degraded forests (0.76 Megagrams of Carbon per hectare per year). If national greenhouse gas emissions remain at the level of 2019, agroforestry (~61% of national area coverage) and continued restoration of degraded natural forests (~0.5% of national area coverage) have the potential to offset about 80% of the national emissions before 2050. Our work monitors and quantifies progress and impact of landscape restoration projects and outlines a pathway to engage smallholder farmers with a limited number of on-farm trees into the expanding carbon market.

AB - Landscape restoration initiatives are mainly focusing on forest regeneration and agroforestry, especially in the Global South. However, due to a lack of monitoring tools, the carbon balance of restoration efforts remains poorly quantified. Here, we use satellite images from 2008 and 2019 to calculate carbon stocks for individual trees in Rwanda, a country which has been actively engaged in restoration activities over the past decade. We show that smallholder farmers on average planted about 3 trees per farm during 2008–2019, contributing about 50.4 million new trees at the national scale. The overall C sink of the new farmland trees was 0.13 Megagrams of Carbon per hectare per year, which is 6 times lower than gains observed from restoration of degraded forests (0.76 Megagrams of Carbon per hectare per year). If national greenhouse gas emissions remain at the level of 2019, agroforestry (~61% of national area coverage) and continued restoration of degraded natural forests (~0.5% of national area coverage) have the potential to offset about 80% of the national emissions before 2050. Our work monitors and quantifies progress and impact of landscape restoration projects and outlines a pathway to engage smallholder farmers with a limited number of on-farm trees into the expanding carbon market.

U2 - 10.1038/s43247-024-01278-x

DO - 10.1038/s43247-024-01278-x

M3 - Journal article

VL - 5

JO - Communications Earth and Environment

JF - Communications Earth and Environment

SN - 2662-4435

IS - 1

M1 - 113

ER -

ID: 384412083