Dive Brief:
- California last week released its first-ever goals to scale up nature-based solutions after a 2022 analysis found the state’s lands emit more greenhouse gas emissions than they absorb from the atmosphere.
- To meet 81 targets by 2045, the state plans to improve its management of millions of acres of forests, croplands, shrublands, grasslands, deserts, beaches and developed land in cities and towns.
- “This scale of action is unprecedented,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. However, no cost estimate has been set for the work, and some climate advocates question whether the state will provide funding to back the plan.
Dive Insight:
Nature’s potential to suck up carbon emissions and protect communities from the impacts of climate change has garnered growing attention from government officials in recent years. The Biden administration released a road map in 2022 to scale up nature-based solutions, and numerous cities have shifted focus toward increasing urban tree canopy and developing “green infrastructure” to manage stormwater.
However, concerns associated with nature-based solutions include that they can distract leaders from the urgent need for decarbonization and their impacts are often difficult to measure, leading to skepticism about their effectiveness.
California was required to set its nature-based solution climate targets by a state law passed in 2022. The state defines nature-based solutions as land management practices that increase the natural systems’ health and resilience. Among California’s 2045 goals are to manage 33.5 million acres to reduce wildfire risk; plant 4.2 million trees; and manage 11.9 million acres of forest for carbon storage as well as protection of biodiversity and water supply.
California says that its land shifted from being an emissions-absorbing carbon sink to becoming a carbon emitter due to accelerating climate change impacts and historic land use decisions such as moving away from beneficial tribal land management practices.
Even if the state meets its 2045 targets, its models show that the state’s lands will likely still be a carbon emitter. But the state said in a Frequently Asked Questions document that even so, “The longer we wait to act, the more vulnerable our lands become.”
“In addition to undermining our climate efforts in every other sector, allowing our lands’ health to decline further profoundly threatens public health and safety, food and water security, economic prosperity, and California’s treasured biodiversity,” the document says.
Nonprofit advocacy group The Climate Center argued in an April 24 news release that the targets “mean little without state investment to back them up.” The organization’s natural carbon sequestration manager, Baani Behniwal, urged state legislators to fund “proven, existing efforts,” including a program that incentivizes farmers and ranchers to develop healthy soils and a program that supports local forestry efforts. Behniwal also called for California to put a climate bond on the November ballot to help fund nature-based solutions in the state.
