Irrecoverable Carbon in Soils (2010)
Irrecoverable Carbonin soils (MgC ha−1) in 2010 refers to the vast stores of carbon in nature that are vulnerable to release from human activity and, if lost, could not be restored by 2050 — when the world must reach net-zero emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
Irrecoverable carbon in ecosystems is defined by three criteria: (1) it can be influenced by direct and local human action (‘manageability’), (2) it is potentially vulnerable to loss during land-use conversion (‘vulnerability’) and (3) if lost, it could not be recovered within a specified timeframe (‘recoverability’). Here, we consider recoverability over 30 yr given the IPCC assessment that global emissions must reach net-zero by 2050 to limit global warming to <1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.
To create the irrecoverable carbon map, we:
(1) Define relevant ecosystems that meet criteria 1, manageability.
(2) Create a ‘total manageable carbon’ map for terrestrial and coastal ecosystems. This includes aboveground biomass carbon (AGC), belowground biomass carbon (BGC) and soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks.
(3) Create a ‘vulnerable carbon’ map that considers the portion of biomass carbon (AGC + BGC) and SOC, respectively, that would be released in a typical land-use conversion. We used the most common drivers of recent destruction/loss in each major ecosystem.
(4) Determine the amount of lost carbon that could be recovered within 30 yr following a conversion, assuming land abandonment and natural regeneration. Recoverability is based on biomass and SOC sequestration rates by ecosystem.
(5) Subtract ‘recoverable carbon’ from the ‘vulnerable carbon’ map. The balance is the ‘irrecoverable carbon’ map.
Sources
Bunting, P., et al. The Global Mangrove Watch – a New 2010 Global Baseline of Mangrove Extent. Remote Sensing 10: 1669. doi:10.3390/rs1010669 Accessed: 6/13/2020 (2018).<o:p></o:p>
ESA. Annual Land Cover maps (1992-2018) 300m Available from: https://maps.elie.ucl.ac.be/CCI/viewer/ Accessed: 2/20/2020 (2018).<o:p></o:p>
FAO. Global Ecological Zones for FAO Forest Reporting: 2010 Update. 42 (2012).<o:p></o:p>
Fick, S. E. & Hijmans, R. J. WorldClim 2: new 1-km spatial resolution climate surfaces for global land areas. International Journal of Climatology 37, 4302-4315, doi:10.1002/joc.5086 (2017).<o:p></o:p>
Harris, N. L., Goldman, E. D. & Gibbs, S. Spatial Database of Planted Trees (SDPT Version 1.0). Accessed: 5/16/2020 (World Resources Institute, 2019).<o:p></o:p>
ISRIC, SoilGrids250m 2.0 – WRB classes and probabilities, https://doi.org/10.17027/isric-soilgrids.c4dc161c-d62d-11ea-a1a3-292680b15169, Accessed: 9/22/2020. (2020).<o:p></o:p>
ISRIC, SoilGrids250m 2.0 - Soil organic stock (0-30cm, t/ha). https://doi.org/10.17027/isric-soilgrids.c4dc161c-d62d-11ea-a1a3-292680b15169, Accessed: 6/5/2020. (2020).<o:p></o:p>
McOwen, C., et al. A global map of saltmarshes (v. 6.0). Biodiversity Data Journal 5: e11764. DOI: https://bdj.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=11764 Accessed: 9/27/2018. (2018).<o:p></o:p>
Sanderman, J. et al. A global map of mangrove forest soil carbon at 30 m spatial resolution. Environmental Research Letters 13, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aabe1c (2018).<o:p></o:p>
UNEP-WCMC, Short FT. Global Distribution of Seagrasses (version 6). Sixth update to the data layer used in Green and Short (2003), superseding version 5. Cambridge (UK): UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre. (2018).<o:p></o:p>
Xu, J.R., Morris, P. J., Liu, J.G., & Holden, J. PEATMAP: Refining estimates of global peatland distribution based on a meta-analysis. Catena 160, 134-140 (2018).<o:p></o:p>
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Additional Info
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| Last Updated | July 28, 2026, 07:35 (UTC) |
| Created | March 24, 2026, 21:06 (UTC) |
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Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
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Title
Title for the Dataset.
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Irrecoverable Carbon in Soils (2010) |
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Description
A description of the dataset.
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Irrecoverable Carbonin soils (MgC ha−1) in 2010 refers to the vast stores of carbon in nature that are vulnerable to release from human activity and, if lost, could not be restored by 2050 — when the world must reach net-zero emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Irrecoverable carbon in ecosystems is defined by three criteria: (1) it can be influenced by direct and local human action (‘manageability’), (2) it is potentially vulnerable to loss during land-use conversion (‘vulnerability’) and (3) if lost, it could not be recovered within a specified timeframe (‘recoverability’). Here, we consider recoverability over 30 yr given the IPCC assessment that global emissions must reach net-zero by 2050 to limit global warming to <1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. To create the irrecoverable carbon map, we: (1) Define relevant ecosystems that meet criteria 1, manageability. (2) Create a ‘total manageable carbon’ map for terrestrial and coastal ecosystems. This includes aboveground biomass carbon (AGC), belowground biomass carbon (BGC) and soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. (3) Create a ‘vulnerable carbon’ map that considers the portion of biomass carbon (AGC + BGC) and SOC, respectively, that would be released in a typical land-use conversion. We used the most common drivers of recent destruction/loss in each major ecosystem. (4) Determine the amount of lost carbon that could be recovered within 30 yr following a conversion, assuming land abandonment and natural regeneration. Recoverability is based on biomass and SOC sequestration rates by ecosystem. (5) Subtract ‘recoverable carbon’ from the ‘vulnerable carbon’ map. The balance is the ‘irrecoverable carbon’ map. Sources Bunting, P., et al. The Global Mangrove Watch – a New 2010 Global Baseline of Mangrove Extent. Remote Sensing 10: 1669. doi:10.3390/rs1010669 Accessed: 6/13/2020 (2018).<o:p></o:p> ESA. Annual Land Cover maps (1992-2018) 300m Available from: https://maps.elie.ucl.ac.be/CCI/viewer/ Accessed: 2/20/2020 (2018).<o:p></o:p> FAO. Global Ecological Zones for FAO Forest Reporting: 2010 Update. 42 (2012).<o:p></o:p> Fick, S. E. & Hijmans, R. J. WorldClim 2: new 1-km spatial resolution climate surfaces for global land areas. International Journal of Climatology 37, 4302-4315, doi:10.1002/joc.5086 (2017).<o:p></o:p> Harris, N. L., Goldman, E. D. & Gibbs, S. Spatial Database of Planted Trees (SDPT Version 1.0). Accessed: 5/16/2020 (World Resources Institute, 2019).<o:p></o:p> ISRIC, SoilGrids250m 2.0 – WRB classes and probabilities, https://doi.org/10.17027/isric-soilgrids.c4dc161c-d62d-11ea-a1a3-292680b15169, Accessed: 9/22/2020. (2020).<o:p></o:p> ISRIC, SoilGrids250m 2.0 - Soil organic stock (0-30cm, t/ha). https://doi.org/10.17027/isric-soilgrids.c4dc161c-d62d-11ea-a1a3-292680b15169, Accessed: 6/5/2020. (2020).<o:p></o:p> McOwen, C., et al. A global map of saltmarshes (v. 6.0). Biodiversity Data Journal 5: e11764. DOI: https://bdj.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=11764 Accessed: 9/27/2018. (2018).<o:p></o:p> Sanderman, J. et al. A global map of mangrove forest soil carbon at 30 m spatial resolution. Environmental Research Letters 13, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aabe1c (2018).<o:p></o:p> UNEP-WCMC, Short FT. Global Distribution of Seagrasses (version 6). Sixth update to the data layer used in Green and Short (2003), superseding version 5. Cambridge (UK): UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre. (2018).<o:p></o:p> Xu, J.R., Morris, P. J., Liu, J.G., & Holden, J. PEATMAP: Refining estimates of global peatland distribution based on a meta-analysis. Catena 160, 134-140 (2018).<o:p></o:p> |
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Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.
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Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
File format of the dataset.
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Dataset Size
Dataset size in megabytes.
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422699.0 |
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Metadata Identifier
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Published Date
Published date of the dataset.
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2022-06-14 |
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Time Period Data Span (start date)
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Time Period Data Span (end date)
End date of time data in the dataset.
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GeoSpatial Area Data Span
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Access category
Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
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public |
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License
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Creative Commons Attribution |
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Limits on use
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Location
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https://climate.esri.ca/datasets/conservation::irrecoverable-carbon-in-soils-2010 |
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Data Service
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Owner
Owner of the dataset.
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CI_GIS |
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Contact Point
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Conservation International |
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Contact Point Email
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[email protected] |
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Publisher
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Conservation International |
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Publisher Email
Email of the publisher.
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Author
Author of the dataset.
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CI_GIS |
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Author Email
Email of the author.
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Accessed At
Date the data and metadata was accessed.
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2023-02-23 |
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Identifier
Unique identifier for the dataset.
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48505427feea4f03be026b7e5ce3a020 |
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Language
Language(s) of the dataset
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English |
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Link to dataset description
A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
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https://climate.esri.ca/datasets/conservation::irrecoverable-carbon-in-soils-2010 |
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Persistent Identifier
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Globally Unique Identifier
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Contains data about individuals
Does the data hold data about individuals?
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Contains data about identifiable individuals
Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
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Contains Indigenous Data
Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
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Platform type of the source portal.
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Version
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None |
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Source
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None |
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Version notes
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Is version of another dataset
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Other versions
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Provenance Text
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Conservation International |
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Provenance URL
Provenance URL of the data.
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Temporal resolution
Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
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GeoSpatial resolution in meters
Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
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GeoSpatial resolution (in regions)
Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.
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Indigenous Community Permission
Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
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Community Permission
Community permission (who gave permission).
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The Indigenous communities the dataset is about
Indigenous communities from which data is derived.
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Number of data rows
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Number of data columns
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Number of data properties
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Data quality
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Metric for data quality
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