Recent evidence suggests boreal forests store a large fraction of their carbon in soils and permafrost rather than in trees, meaning that conventional model and inventory methods can undercount the climate impact of logging and disturbance. If true, land‑use decisions that focus on aboveground biomass (trees) will systematically miss the emissions risk locked in soils.
— Policymakers, carbon markets, and conservation priorities may be misdirected if soil carbon is excluded or underestimated from emissions accounting and logging policy.
Jasna Hodžić
2026.05.11
100% relevant
Big Think article reporting studies that find boreal soils hold far more carbon than models assume and that most carbon in those systems is not in trees but buried in soil.
Jasna Hodžić
2026.05.11
90% relevant
The article claims that logging the boreal releases carbon previously stored in soils — a mechanism that climate models and carbon accounting often underweight — directly exemplifying the 'soil carbon blindspot' idea (actor: forestry industry / carbon accountants; evidence: soil carbon fluxes after disturbance).
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