Assessing the net climate benefits of improved grazing intensity in global rangelands

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Powell, Robert S.; Davis, Steven J.; Encarnation, David G.; Piipponen, Johannes; Chang, Jinfeng; Currier, Courtney M.; Erb, Karl-Heinz; Eze, Samuel; Hong, Chaopeng; Ploton, Pierre; Ren, Shuai; Smith, Pete; Su, Jishuai; Tempio, Giuseppe; Terrer, Cesar; Wisser, Dominik; Xu, Fengwei; Pellegrini, Adam F. A.
• 署名单位: University of Cambridge; University of Cambridge; Stanford University; Stanford University; Aalto University; Zhejiang University; BOKU University; Harper Adams University; Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School; Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); CIRAD; INRAE; Universite de Montpellier; University of Yaounde I; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); University of Aberdeen; Hebei University; Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); Chinese Academy of Forestry; Institute of Ecological Conservation & Restoration, CAF
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adz4320
• 发表日期: 2026-06-11
• 页码: 1161-1166
• 关键词: soil organic-carbon; GREENHOUSE-GAS MITIGATION; LAND-USE EMISSIONS; impacts; nitrogen; storage; models; sequestration; optimization; GRASSLANDS

摘要

Improved rangeland grazing could mitigate climate change through carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration in soils and vegetation. However, altering grazing practices to increase ecosystem carbon storage may also decrease livestock production and/or increase greenhouse gas emissions through the supply chain, such that the net emissions impacts remain unclear. Here, we assess the global net mitigation potential of improving grazing intensity by quantifying potential CO2 sequestration alongside systems-level impacts of plant productivity changes, livestock emissions, feed requirements, and production constraints. Improving grazing intensity in global rangelands could sequester 2.2 +/- 0.43 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (Gt/CO2eq) per year in the near term, but maintaining livestock production through supplemental feeding would reduce net mitigation by 2 to 31% (to 1.8 +/- 0.45 GT/CO2eq per year). Our results suggest that neglecting systems-level emissions impacts may substantially overestimate the global climate benefits of improved grazing.