- Hong Kong Carbon Reduction Campaign
- Global forest carbon research
- Securing water supply in China's heartland
- Taking direct action
- Saving the Freshwater Gharial in the Ganges
- Cleaning up the Ganges
- Untangling our understanding of lianas and climate change
- The Panama Canal Watershed Experiment
- Protecting the Ganges: Interschool Recycling Workshop
- Cooking on natural gas in the Yangtze
- Tackling illegal deforestation
- Johannesburg's Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit Project
- Baicheng wind farm project
Global forest carbon research
Forests cover just under a third of the Earth's land surface and contain an estimated 40% of terrestrial carbon. Billions of people worldwide rely on trees and forests for food, shelter, fuel, medicines, stable soils, clean air and fresh water regulation. But all this is under threat from deforestation, degradation and climate change.
Climate challenge
Surprisingly little is known about how forests are affected by changing temperatures and rising levels of carbon in the atmosphere and how change to forest management could play an important role in helping to reduce the impact of climate change.
Insight and action
The Smithsonian, working with the HSBC Climate Partnership, is helping to fi ll these gaps by carrying out intensive research at forest in Asia, Latin America, North America and Europe.
Scientists are analysing the carbon contained in trees, soil, lianas, dead wood, and leaf litter. The carbon and forest-dynamics data produced are critical for predicting forest response to climate change, quantifying the carbon benefits of reforestation and avoided deforestation, and assessing the impacts of climate and land-use change on forest carbon pools.
Similar complementary research is conducted by Earthwatch scientists at its five Regional Climate Centres, assisted by HSBC volunteers.
Outcomes
The Smithsonian has created a single database that links 40 forest areas of over four million trees in 21 countries. A consistent methodology for monitoring and tracking tree development has been established, and data are managed on common software programmes so any scientist working on tree carbon can access data gathered in the forest sites.
The resulting data is enabling scientists to predict forests' response to climate change and calculate the amount of carbon that could be captured through reforestation.
Earthwatch's research in India has been included in the Indian Government's submission to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
This research will help us understand how increasing CO2 in the atmosphere is going to affect forest growth. Are forests going to grow faster on account of increasing CO2? Or will increasing temperatures slow tree growth rates and therefore reduce the amount of carbon that forests can take up? These are the key questions and our research will help answer them both.
Stuart Davies, Director, Smithsonian Center for Tropical Forest Science
The HSBC Climate Partnership is a long-term environmental programme between HSBC, The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and WWF. It aims to reduce the impact of climate change on people, forests, freshwater and cities and accelerate the adoption of low-carbon policies.
