Carbon storage in Norwegian ecosystems (revised edition)

• Main Authors: Bartlett, Jesamine, Rusch, Graciela M., Kyrkjeeide, Magni Olsen, Sandvik, Hanno, Nordén, Jenni
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Norsk Institutt for Naturforskning (NINA) 2020
• Subjects: Carbon sequestration; greenhouse gases; soil; forest ecosystems; alpine ecosystems; cryosphere; peatland ecosystems; lowland ecosystems; aquatic ecosystems; oceanic ecosystems; Karbonopptak; klimagasser; jord; skogøkosystemer; alpine økosystemer; kryosfære; myrøkosystemer; åpent lavland; ferskvannsøkosystemer; marine økosystemer; Lavland; Norway; permafrost
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2655580

Bartlett, J., Rusch, G.M., Kyrkjeeide, M.O., Sandvik, H. & Nordén, J. 2020. Carbon storage in Norwegian ecosystems (revised edition). NINA Report 1774b. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. This report discusses approximate estimations of the carbon budgets within Norway’s mainland ecosystems. It stands as an initial overview of the natural potential of carbon storage and sequestration in Norwegian ecosystems. We describe carbon cycling in five key ecosystem groups: forest, alpine and cryosphere, agriculture and grassland, wetland, and freshwater and nearshore ecosystems. We emphasise the vital ecosystem service that Norwegian landscapes and ecosystems provide in sequestering carbon, and how climate change and management practices may aggravate or mitigate this function. We find that the largest stores of carbon in Norway are in the forests (32%) which also cover 38% of the total land area. Wetlands and permafrost cover 9% and 3% of the total land mass respectively, yet are storing over 2.2 Pg C, 31% of the nation’s carbon. These two ecosystems are the most carbon dense ecosystems per km2, with 53 and 48 kg C m−2 for wetlands and permafrost respectively. The next densest storage of carbon can be found in freshwater lake sediments, with 45 kg C m−2, amounting to 13% of all carbon stores. Forests and low-mid alpine zones sequester the most carbon on an annual basis (5.5 and 5.3 Tg C yr−1, respectively), with soils in alpine heathlands contributing the most to alpine carbon stores. In considering the carbon stored in key ecosystems, we find that Norway contains approximately 0.18% of all global carbon stocks, with a land mass that is 0.07% of the planet. This high carbon-to-area ratio is likely due to the large proportion of the country that is carbon rich peatlands (alpine and lowland) and boreal forest. Since ratifying the Paris Agreement, Norway has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050, yet is presently one of the highest CO2/CO2-e emitters per capita in Europe, and within the top 20% of emitters ...