California has unveiled an ambitious plan to help tackle the worsening climate crisis with one of its priceless assets: its land.
Over the next 20 years, the state will work to convert more than half of its 100 million acres into multi-benefit landscapes that can absorb more carbon than it emits, officials announced Monday. where did it go nature based solutions This would span natural and working lands such as forests, fields, grasslands, chaparral, deserts and other types of ecosystems, and urban environments.
First-of-its-kind plan – part of Governor Gavin Newsom California Climate Commitment ready to help the state Reach carbon neutrality by 2045 – It includes 81 targets that will help harness the power of millions of acres in the Golden State.
“We are setting aggressive and ambitious new goals for using California lands to fight the climate crisis,” Newsom said in a statement. “This scale of action is unprecedented, and is another example of California punching above its weight. From restoring and preserving land to greening our urban spaces and treating more acres to prevent wildfires, we are protecting nature and allowing it to work for our communities. Are giving.
Among the 2045 goals announced Monday are 33.5 million acres that will be managed to reduce wildfire risk, mostly through fuel reduction activities and beneficial fire drills, Those practices include cultural and prescribed burning, which are intentionally set fires designed to burn overgrown vegetation and other material that could act as fuel for the flames.
U.S. Forest Service firefighters burn a pile of forest debris below Mount Baldy in the Angeles National Forest in November 2023. Controlled burning is part of the Service’s forest management practices.
(Luis Cinco/Los Angeles Times)
To get there, the state wants to conduct 1.5 million acres of wildfire risk reduction activity per year by 2030; 2 million acres per year by 2038, and 25 million acres per year by 2045, the majority of which will be used for forests, scrub, chaparral, and grasslands, totaling about 67% of the state.
(By comparison, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection completed about 105,000 acres of fuels treatment during the 2023 fiscal year, according to agency data, including 36,000 acres of prescribed burns. The U.S. Forest Service completed about 312,000 acres Completed combined treatment and burning).
The plan also calls for managing 11.9 million acres of forestland for biodiversity conservation, carbon storage and water supply protection by 2045, and converting 2.7 million acres of shrubland and chaparral for carbon storage, resilience and habitat, among other efforts. Connectivity has to be managed.
“We have a really strong environmental protection movement in California, and we’re obviously strong on climate action, but we haven’t integrated nature into our climate agenda,” said California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot. “And so this is the next concrete step to really do that.”
Crowfoot said nature-based solutions are gaining attention not only in the state, but also on the international stage, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change validating their critical importance in ongoing efforts to stabilize the climate.
“It’s all about improving the health and resiliency of our lands, whether it’s forests and deserts and farms and coastal areas,” Crowfoot said. “Healthy, resilient lands…do a better job of absorbing and storing carbon, and avoid emissions.”
But the move was also inspired by the results in California 2022 scoping plan to achieve carbon neutrality, which for the first time analyzed the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced and absorbed by state lands. The analysis found that California’s land currently emits more emissions than it absorbs – primarily in the form of wildfires, which spew carbon dioxide and other harmful emissions,
In fact, a recent study found that California wildfires in 2020 – the state’s worst fire season on record – emitted the equivalent of about 127 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, or Nearly double the tonnage of greenhouse gases As the total amount of CO2 reductions made since 2003.
“This shift from carbon sink to carbon emitter is largely due to historic land use decisions, including disconnection from beneficial land management practices used by California Native American tribes, and the increasing impacts of climate change,” the governor’s office said. Are.” “Modeling shows that aggressive near-term efforts to increase climate action on California land will put the region on a course correction path.”
Beaches are included in the state’s plan to use nature to mitigate climate change.
(Luis Cinco/Los Angeles Times)
The scheme also comes under this Earth’s hottest year on recordwhich has seen scientists and public officials alike pound the alarm About the rapid global changes occurring due to fossil fuel emissions.
What’s more, the planet is wavering On the verge of 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) warming at pre-industrial levels – an international benchmark for avoiding the worst effects of climate change – and are already seeing an acceleration in wildfires, stronger storms, more severe drought and species loss, among other impacts.
A haze hangs in the air as the sun sets after a hot day in Los Angeles last fall.
(Luis Cinco/Los Angeles Times)
Experts say it is important to reduce carbon emissions to prevent such consequences from getting worse. The current level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is about 425 parts per million – well beyond safe limits,
Lauren Sanchez, Newsom’s climate adviser, said, “The science is very clear: Shifting our land from a source to a sink requires aggressive action in the near term, and the longer we wait, the harder it will become.” ”
Other items outlined in the plan include managing 3.4 million acres of cropland for healthy soils, drought resilience and below-ground biodiversity, as well as conservation. This includes approximately 152,000 acres per year by 2030; 206,000 acres per year by 2038, and 209,500 acres per year by 2045.
Much of this work will involve practices that sequester carbon and provide multiple benefits on working lands, such as increased water holding capacity and improved nutrient cycling, said Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
A tractor plows a field in the Cuyama Valley in Central California.
(Luis Cinco/Los Angeles Times)
Indeed, agricultural emissions in the United States account for about 10% of the country’s emissions, according to Latest Greenhouse Gas Emissions List From the US Environmental Protection Agency. The California Air Resources Board estimates that in California, agriculture is the source of 8% of total listed greenhouse gas emissions.
“I know that with the continued investment, collaboration and partnerships that we’re building, we can continue to be the leader in the country in getting these practices off the ground and (a) carbon sink,” Ross said.
The Governor plans to plant thousands of trees in urban areas.
(Gennaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
But it is not just agricultural land that will play a role in the state’s land-use change. The program also calls for planting 4.2 million trees across California, which will help sequester carbon, combat heat, and increase access to nature. Studies have shown that areas without trees can be several degrees hotter than their leafy counterparts in poorer neighborhoods. often bears the brunt of extreme temperatures,
Trees and vegetation also contribute to more permeable soil creating more opportunities water seepage into the ground and replenishing groundwater aquifers depleted by agriculture, drought, and overuse.
In fact, many of the projects — which will involve more than 40 state agencies, tribal partners and stakeholder groups — will have many benefits, said Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board. For example, healthy forests can mean healthy soils and water levels, as well as reduced wildfire risk and improved air quality.
“The solutions were developed not only to support carbon storage and help achieve carbon neutrality by 2045, but also to address the huge public health and environmental benefits that come with restored and sustained ecosystem health,” Randolph said. ” He said phasing in the goals means many Californians will start seeing benefits long before the 2045 deadline.
The Governor’s plan also includes 1.6 million acres of grasslands managed to restore native grasslands and protect biodiversity; And 1.5 million acres of sparsely vegetated land – such as deserts and beaches – managed to protect fragile ecosystems. More than 230,000 acres of wetlands and seagrass will be managed to protect water supplies, deliver carbon benefits and protect communities from flooding.
The cumulative goal is about 60 million acres across California by 2045, officials said, although it’s possible some projects will overlap.
There is currently no specific price tag attached to the work. The state has recently seen several examples of Major climate programs have been put on the chopping block As Newsom seeks to close a huge budget deficit.
“This work will require significant investment and a level of collective action,” acknowledged Amanda Hansen, deputy secretary for climate change at the Natural Resources Agency. However, he said that according to the scoping plan, the cost of meeting the targets is significantly lower than the estimated cost of addressing emissions in fossil fuel sectors.
The goals are intended to help guide state policy and investment, Hansen said, and will work in conjunction with the scoping plan. Assembly Bill 1757, a 2022 bill that requires state agencies to cooperate in setting targets for carbon sequestration and nature-based solutions. The Newsom administration has invested $9.6 billion in nature-based solutions since 2020.
Officials described the plan as “one of the most comprehensive in the world” and said they believed it could serve as a model for other states and territories.
“These climate goals are a huge deal for California, the country and the world,” Sanchez said.
