What this paper found
Two decades of permanent-plot data combined with airborne LiDAR biomass maps in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo showed that active restoration accelerated carbon recovery by around 50% compared with natural regeneration. The study provides a rigorous empirical benchmark for quantifying the additional carbon gains delivered by restoration interventions in logged tropical forests.
How this informs belian.earth’s work
Chris led this paper, which underpins how belian.earth thinks about counterfactual baselines for ARR projects. People often assume ARR is more tangible than avoided-deforestation because you can see a tree planted in bare ground. But the climate benefit only counts when compared against what natural regeneration would have delivered anyway, and that comparison requires a counterfactual, unless you have a designed experiment like this one.
Frequently asked questions
How does active restoration affect carbon recovery in tropical forests?
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A study in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo combining two decades of permanent-plot data with airborne LiDAR biomass maps found that active restoration accelerated carbon recovery by around 50% compared with natural regeneration. Both active restoration and natural regeneration depended on sustained protection from further disturbance. The study provides a rigorous empirical benchmark for measuring restoration efficacy in logged tropical forests. Comparing restored forest against naturally regenerating forest over two decades is effectively a counterfactual baseline approach, quantifying the additional carbon gains attributable to active restoration interventions.
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Liana cutting, designed experiments, and carbon baselines
Liana cutting accelerates the recovery of logged tropical forest three times faster than tree planting, at one tenth of the cost. The Sabah Biodiversity Experiment shows why designed experiments matter for forest carbon baselines.
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Citation
Philipson, C.D. et al. (2020). Active restoration accelerates the carbon recovery of human-modified tropical forests. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay4490