Forest regeneration on European sheep pasture is an economically viable climate change mitigation strategy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15545473 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Connie O’Neill (0009-0007-7615-0960, University of Sheffield), Felix K S Lim (0000-0003-1227-460X, University of Sheffield), David P Edwards (0000-0001-8562-3853, University of Sheffield, corresponding author), Colin P Osborne (0000-0002-7423-3718, University of Sheffield, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Pages | 104090-104090 |
| Publication date | 2020-08-14 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/abaf87 |
| OpenAlex | W3049419127 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 10 |
Livestock production uses 37% of land globally and is responsible for 15% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Yet livestock farmers across Europe receive billions of dollars in annual subsidies to support their livelihoods. This study evaluates whether diverting European subsidies into the restoration of trees on abandoned farmland represents a cost-effective negative-emissions strategy for mitigating climate change. Focusing on sheep farming in the United Kingdom, and on natural regeneration and planted native forests, we show that, without subsidies, sheep farming is not profitable when farmers are paid for their labour. Despite the much lower productivity of upland farms, upland and lowland farms are financially comparable per hectare. Conversion to ‘carbon forests’ is possible via natural regeneration when close to existing trees, which are seed sources. This strategy is financially viable without subsidies, meeting the net present value of poorly performing sheep farming at a competitive $4/tCO 2 eq. If tree planting is required to establish forests, then ∼$55/tCO 2 eq is needed to break-even, making it uneconomical under current carbon market prices without financial aid to cover establishment costs. However, this break-even price is lower than the theoretical social value of carbon ($68/tCO 2 eq), which represents the economic cost of CO 2 emissions to society. The viability of land-use conversion without subsidies therefore depends on low farm performance, strong likelihood of natural regeneration, and high carbon-market price, plus overcoming potential trade-offs between the cultural and social values placed on pastoral livestock systems and climate change mitigation. The morality of subsidising farming practices that cause high GHG emissions in Europe, whilst spending billions annually on protecting forest carbon in less developed nations to slow climate change is questionable
Agricultural economics · Agriculture · Agroforestry · Business · Carbon price · Economics · Geography · Greenhouse gas · Hectare · Livelihood · Natural resource economics · Productivity · Subsidy · Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact · Economic and Environmental Valuation · Environmental Science · Forest Management and Policy · Ecology
The prehistoric and preindustrial deforestation of Europe
Carbon farming via assisted natural regeneration as a cost-effective mechanism for restoring biodiversity in agricultural landscapes
Managing abandoned farmland to control the impact of re-vegetation on the environment. The state of the art in Europe
An economic analysis of the establishment of forest plantations in the United Kingdom to mitigate climatic change
Assessing the influence of direct payments on the rental value of agricultural land
The impact of the Neolithic agricultural transition in Britain
Trade-offs across Space, Time, and Ecosystem Services
| Citations per year | 0.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |