Cited by 8,458Forest Management and PolicyForest ecology and managementPlant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics

A large and persistent carbon sink in the world’s forests

Open access
Pan, Yude, Birdsey, Richard A., Fang, Jingyun, Houghton, Richard, Kauppi, Pekka E., Kurz, Werner A., Phillips, Oliver L., Shvidenko, Anatoly +10 more·2011·Science

Abstract

The terrestrial carbon sink has been large in recent decades, but its size and location remain uncertain. Using forest inventory data and long-term ecosystem carbon studies, we estimate a total forest sink of 2.4 ± 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year (Pg C year(-1)) globally for 1990 to 2007. We also estimate a source of 1.3 ± 0.7 Pg C year(-1) from tropical land-use change, consisting of a gross tropical deforestation emission of 2.9 ± 0.5 Pg C year(-1) partially compensated by a carbon sink in tropical forest regrowth of 1.6 ± 0.5 Pg C year(-1). Together, the fluxes comprise a net global forest sink of 1.1 ± 0.8 Pg C year(-1), with tropical estimates having the largest uncertainties. Our total forest sink estimate is equivalent in magnitude to the terrestrial sink deduced from fossil fuel emissions and land-use change sources minus ocean and atmospheric sinks.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1126/science.1201609

Cites

32 of 32 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The global forest net C sink is estimated at 10.7 Gt CO2-eq year−1, mainly distributed in temperate regions.

    “The global forest net C sink is estimated at 10.7 Gt CO2-eq year−1,112 which is mainly distributed in temperate regions.145”

    From Technologies and perspectives for achieving carbon neutrality (2021) · cites this paper as [145]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Pan, Y., Birdsey, R. A., Fang, J., Houghton, R., Kauppi, P. E., Kurz, W. A., Phillips, O. L., Shvidenko, A., Lewis, S. L., Canadell, J. G., Ciais, P., Jackson, R. B., Pacala, S. W., McGuire, A. D., Piao, S., Rautiainen, A., Sitch, S., & Hayes, D.
Affiliations
  • US Forest Service (US)
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
  • Woodwell Climate Research Center (US)
  • University of Helsinki (FI)
  • Canadian Forest Service (CA)
  • University of Leeds (GB)
  • International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria.
  • Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (AU)
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • Duke University (US)
  • Princeton University (US)
  • United States Geological Survey (US)
  • Peking University (CN)
  • Oak Ridge National Laboratory (US)
Corresponding author
Pan, Yude
Venue
Science
Published
2011-08-19
Volume
333
Issue
6045
Pages
988-993
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W1516075103
Cited by
8,458
References
32
Citations by year
2026: 799 · 2025: 838 · 2024: 847 · 2023: 785 · 2022: 763 · 2021: 784 · 2020: 570 · 2019: 531 · 2018: 531 · 2017: 404 · 2016: 407 · 2015: 339 · 2014: 318 · 2013: 318 · 2012: 194
FWCI
231.99
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Institute of Botany, CAS Institutional Repository (submittedVersion)
  • IIASA PURE (International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis) (submittedVersion)
  • FSC® Open Knowledge Repository (FSCOKR)
Funders
Natural Environment Research Council (NE/B503384/1, NE/B504630/1, NE/D000300/1)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Forest Management and Policy
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Forest ecology and management
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
Keywords
terrestrial carbon sink, tropical deforestation, land use change emissions, forest inventory data, fossil fuel emissions
MeSH terms
Atmosphere, Carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Conservation of Natural Resources, Trees, Tropical Climate, Ecosystem, Biomass, Climate Change, Carbon Sequestration

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review