9.4.2.2 Maintaining or increasing forest area: afforestation/reforestation

Afforestation and reforestation are the direct human-induced conversion of non-forest to forest land through planting, seeding, and/or the human-induced promotion of natural seed sources. The two terms are distinguished by how long the non-forest condition has prevailed. For the remainder of this chapter, afforestation is used to imply either afforestation or reforestation. To date, carbon sequestration has rarely been the primary driver of afforestation, but future changes in carbon valuation could result in large increases in the rates of afforestation (US EPA, 2005).

Afforestation typically leads to increases in biomass and dead organic matter carbon pools, and to a lesser extent, in soil carbon pools, whose small, slow increases are often hard to detect within the uncertainty ranges (Paul et al., 2003). Biomass clearing and site preparation prior to afforestation may lead to short-term carbon losses on that site. On sites with low initial soil carbon stocks (e.g., after prolonged cultivation), afforestation can yield considerable soil carbon accumulation rates (e.g., Post and Kwon (2000) report rates of 1 to 1.5 t CO₂/yr). Conversely, on sites with high initial soil carbon stocks, (e.g., some grassland ecosystems) soil carbon stocks can decline following afforestation (e.g., Tate et al. (2005) report that in the whole of New Zealand soil carbon losses amount up to 2.2 MtCO₂/yr after afforestation). Once harvesting of afforested land commences, forest biomass carbon is transferred into wood products that store carbon for years to many decades. Accumulation of carbon in biomass after afforestation varies greatly by tree species and site, and ranges globally between 1 and 35 t CO₂/ha.yr (Richards and Stokes, 2004).

Afforestation costs vary by land type and region and are affected by the costs of available land, site preparation, and labour. The cost of forest mitigation projects rises significantly when opportunity costs of land are taken into account (VanKooten et al., 2004). A major economic constraint to afforestation is the high initial investment to establish new stands coupled with the several-decade delay until afforested areas generate revenue. The non-carbon benefits of afforestation, such as reduction in erosion or non-consumptive use of forests, however, can more than off-set afforestation cost (Richards and Stokes, 2004).