Trade-offs and synergies in land-based climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation

The stewardship of land holds the solutions to limit global warming to well below 2 °C and to halt biodiversity loss. Nevertheless, the mechanisms behind trade-offs, or possible synergies, between land-based climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation are not well understood. Many mitigation pathways to meet the Paris climate goals deploy bioenergy on a massive scale. Even though large-scale implementation of bioenergy will require a substantial commitment of land, the effects of ramping up bioenergy use on meeting international biodiversity goals have not been quantitatively studied. While bioenergy may compete for land with biodiversity, the management of boreal forests may have a large, but little investigated potential for enhancing natural carbon sequestration with possible co-benefits with biodiversity protection. However, mechanistic understanding of forest carbon management that safeguards biodiversity protection is missing. The overall aim of this project is to provide systemic understanding on trade-offs and synergies between climate change mitigation with bioenergy or enhancing natural carbon sinks, and biodiversity conservation.