Massive carbon stocks in grasslands are ignored by climate finance

Open ecosystems, such as grasslands, shrublands, and savannas, can store substantial carbon while providing crucial services like water supply, biodiversity, and ecosystem stability. However, climate finance policies often overlook these non-forested landscapes, focusing instead on forests. This oversight stems from current carbon market standards and methods primarily centered around forested areas, leaving open ecosystems like grasslands and savannas without a pathway to inclusion.

Lead researcher Franciele Peixoto, an environmental analyst from Brazil, emphasizes that these ecosystems are under threat and neglected by climate policies that concentrate on forests and trees. The researchers hope their recent policy brief, published in PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET, will increase awareness about the significance of these ecosystems and inspire the development of policies and programs to integrate them into climate finance mechanisms.

The Cerrado, the most biodiverse savanna globally, is home to over 1,000 animal species and more than 10,000 plant species, including the "princess-earring grass" with dangling golden fruit. The Cerrado's soils can store six times more carbon per hectare than the Amazon rainforest's vegetation, yet unlike Amazon trees, which can regrow within decades to centuries, the Cerrado's deep soil carbon has persisted for up to 20,000 years and cannot be easily replenished.

Additionally, the Cerrado serves as the headwaters for two-thirds of Brazil's major waterways, including the Amazon River. As the paper's co-authors highlight, open ecosystems are not only crucial for carbon storage but also for maintaining water security and supporting local communities. Presently, these ecosystems are largely undervalued, a legacy of colonial perspectives that viewed forests as valuable for timber while deeming open ecosystems wastelands due to challenging environmental conditions and the absence of historical evidence of their ecological significance.

Consequently, open ecosystems have been subjected to development projects and tree-planting initiatives that disrupt their carbon storage capacity and ecological integrity. In Brazil, the Cerrado is frequently sacrificed to protect the Amazon, with over 46% of its original land already converted for agricultural use. To safeguard these open ecosystems, the researchers recommend raising public awareness of their benefits, including improved environmental education and public communication that underscores their role in climate security, water availability, and overall well-being.

They also urge revisions to international carbon credit methodologies to account for belowground carbon storage, particularly in deep soil and root systems, rather than solely focusing on aboveground vegetation. Furthermore, they call on Brazil to establish policies that recognize and protect open ecosystems.