Abstract
Afforestation and reforestation can contribute to the mitigation of climate change by increasing forested areas that can actively sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. The purpose of this study was to assess the potential for carbon sequestration in the ecosystem and in harvested wood products, and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation, following the application of afforestation/reforestation strategies on unproductive lands in the Province of Quebec over an 80-year long period (2021–2101), using the Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forester Sector 3. Afforestation/reforestation scenarios without harvesting and scenarios based on establishment of fast-growing species such as hybrid poplar showed the greatest short-term (2020–2040) carbon sequestration potential. Over the 80-year simulation period, plantations without harvesting generated a greater potential for carbon sequestration in ecosystems; after each harvesting event, several decades were necessary to regain any ecosystem carbon loss, which could be compensated only if a proportion of the harvested wood is converted to long-lived wood products, with high substitution effects in other sectors. In the northern boreal zone of Quebec, significant mitigation potential can be expected from the afforestation of open woodlands and poorly regenerated burns, both with or without harvesting. In the southern zone, the need for better data on vegetation succession and carbon accumulation on abandoned farmlands in the absence of plantations was highlighted by this study. This study increases the understanding of carbon sequestration by plantations, and their role as a mitigation strategy to contribute to national GHG emission reduction targets and net-zero carbon objectives.
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The datasets supporting the conclusions of this article are available in the Figshare repository at: https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Menard_et_al_Afforestation_Quebec/14879700.
Abbreviations
- A/R:
-
Afforestation/reforestation
- CBM-CFS3:
-
Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector
- CBM-HWP:
-
Carbon Budget Model Harvested Wood Products
- OWs:
-
Open woodlands
- HWPs:
-
Harvested wood products
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Acknowledgements
Authors wish to acknowledge Sylvie Tremblay from Direction de la Recherche Forestière for providing the data for abandoned farmlands; Michael Magnan, Carolyn E Smyth, and all members of the Carbon Accounting Team at the Pacific Forestry Centre and Stephen Kull from Northern Forestry Centre for the training, technical support and the data, and Yan Boucher and Jason Laflamme from Direction des Inventaires Forestiers for data for OWs and poorly regenerated burns. Warm thanks to Boris Dufour from Université du Québec à Chicoutimi and Patrick Lavoie from FPInnovations.
Funding
This work was supported by the Mitacs Acceleration Program (project number IT10419) with the partnership of FPInnovations, Laval University through a scholarship to Isabelle Ménard and an establishment grant to Evelyne Thiffault, and Université du Québec à Chicoutimi through a scholarship to Isabelle Ménard and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) grant (Collaborative Research and Development Grants Project 488866–15) to Jean-François Boucher.
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IM, ET, JFB and WK conceived the approach and methods. IM drafted the paper and ran the analyses. All authors contributed to the revision of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Ménard, I., Thiffault, E., Kurz, W.A. et al. Carbon sequestration and emission mitigation potential of afforestation and reforestation of unproductive territories. New Forests 54, 1013–1035 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-022-09955-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-022-09955-5