Canada could remove more than five times its annual carbon emissions from the atmosphere by the end of the century by planting trees along the northern edge of its boreal forest, a new study suggests.
In recent decades forests have slowly moved north in response to climate change — in particular the taiga area on the edge of the boreal forest, the massive belt of forest stretching across northern Canada, Europe, and Russia, where it transitions to Arctic tundra. This movement suggests a potential way to boost carbon sequestration in the area, said study lead author Kevin Dsouza, a postdoctoral researcher in Earth and environmental sciences at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
“What is the potential for reforestation in these regions, and how much carbon could they sequester?” he told Live Science.
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