Regular Article
Climate Change and Forest Sinks: Factors Affecting the Costs of Carbon Sequestration

https://doi.org/10.1006/jeem.1999.1120Get rights and content

Abstract

The possibility of encouraging the growth of forests as a means of sequestering carbon dioxide has received considerable attention, partly because of evidence that this can be a relatively inexpensive means of combating climate change. But how sensitive are such estimates to specific conditions? We examine the sensitivity of carbon sequestration costs to changes in critical factors, including the nature of management and deforestation regimes, silvicultural species, relative prices, and discount rates.

References (40)

  • K.R. Richards et al.

    Costs of creating carbon sinks in the U.S

    Energy Conservation Management

    (1993)
  • R.N. Stavins

    Alternative renewable resource strategies: A simulation of optimal use

    J. Environ. Econom. Management

    (1990)
  • R.M. Adams et al.

    Sequestering carbon on agricultural land: Social cost and impacts on timber markets

    Contemp. Policy Issues

    (1993)
  • R. Alig et al.

    Assessing effects of mitigation strategies for global climate change with an intertemporal model of the U.S. forest and agricultural sectors

    Environ. Resour. Econom.

    (1997)
  • J.P. Bruce et al.

    Climate Change 1995: Economic and Social Dimensions of Climate Change

    (1996)
  • J.M. Callaway et al.

    The economic consequences of substituting carbon payments for crop subsidies in U.S. agriculture

    Environ. Resour. Econom.

    (1996)
  • R. Daniels, personal communication, Mississippi State University, Agricultural Extension Service, Starkville, MS,...
  • R.K. Dixon et al.

    Carbon pools and flux of global forest ecosystems

    Science

    (1994)
  • R.K. Dixon et al.

    Integrated land-use systems: Assessment of promising agroforest and alternative land-use practices to enhance carbon conservation and sequestration

    Climatic Change

    (1994)
  • D.J. Dudek et al.

    Offsetting new CO2 emissions: A rational first greenhouse policy step

    Contemp. Policy Issues

    (1990)
  • M.E. Harmon et al.

    Effects on carbon storage of conversion of old-growth forest to young forests

    Science

    (1990)
  • R.A. Houghton

    Tropical deforestation and atmospheric carbon dioxide

    Climatic Change

    (1991)
  • C. J. Jepma, M. Asaduzzaman, I. Mintzer, S. Maya, and, M. Al-Moneef, A Generic Assessment of Response Options, Draft,...
  • J.A. Kershaw et al.

    Effect of harvest of old growth douglas-fir stands and subsequent management on carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere

    J. Sustainable Forestry

    (1993)
  • G. Marland

    The Prospect of Solving the CO2 Problem through Global Reforestation

    (1988)
  • O. Masera et al.

    Forestry options for sequestering carbon in Mexico: Comparative economic analysis of three case studies

    Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration: An Economic Synthesis Workshop, Bergendal, Sweden, May 15–19

    (1995)
  • R.J. Moulton et al.

    Costs of Sequestering Carbon Through Tree Planting and Forest Management in The United States

    (1990)
  • Analysis of Carbon Reduction in New York State

    (1993)
  • W.D. Nordhaus

    The cost of slowing climate change: A survey

    Energy J.

    (1991)
  • Cited by (129)

    • How are biodiversity and carbon stock recovered during tropical forest restoration? Supporting the ecological paradigms and political context involved

      2022, Journal for Nature Conservation
      Citation Excerpt :

      Productivity is measured as biomass, where carbon typically comprises 50% of the total mass that plants accumulate (He et al., 2005; Lacerda et al., 2009). Thus, the atmospheric excess of carbon may be sequestered and accumulated in ecosystems during restoration (Cao & Woodward, 1998; Jones & Donnelly, 2004; Lal, 2004; McGuire et al., 2001; Newell & Stavins, 2000). This is especially true during early successional stages of restoration, when fast growing species are more abundant and carbon sequestration proceeds more rapidly (Montagnini & Porras, 1998; Shimamoto et al. 2014; Sierra et al., 2012).

    • Carbon sinks and output of China's forestry sector: An ecological economic development perspective

      2019, Science of the Total Environment
      Citation Excerpt :

      This will make forest coverage have a significant positive effect on total factor productivity. Increasing forest coverage can effectively promote carbon sinks (Lubowski et al., 2006; Rokityanskiy et al., 2007; Newell, 2000; Adetoye et al., 2018). In the regression analysis of forestry output value, the ratio of cultivated area to forest area has a positive effect on the two outputs slacks.

    • Estimating Transaction Costs of REDD+

      2019, Ecological Economics
    View all citing articles on Scopus

    Valuable comments on previous versions of this paper were provided by Lawrence Goulder, William Nordhaus, Andrew Plantinga, Kenneth Richards, Roger Sedjo, two anonymous referees, an associate editor, and participants in seminars at the Universities of California at Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, Maryland, Michigan, and Texas, Harvard, Stanford, and Yale Universities, Resources for the Future, and the National Bureau of Economic Research. The authors alone are responsible for any errors.

    2

    Address correspondence to: Professor Robert N. Stavins, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 79 John F. Kennedy St., Cambridge, MA 02138, phone: 617-495-1820, Fax: 617-496-3783. E-mail: [email protected]

    View full text