Temperate forest restoration covers the protection and regeneration of forest on degraded land. Temperate forests hold roughly 10% of all terrestrial carbon and 20% of global plant biomass, and young forests take up carbon quickly in soil and biomass. For the agriculture and land use sector in Gelderland, this restoration carries a sequestration potential of 0.013 to 0.027 Mton CO₂-eq in 2030.
The urgency shows in the national balance: since 2013, deforestation in the Netherlands has produced a net emission of 1.5 million tonnes of CO₂ per year. In Gelderland about 10% of the forest is under pressure from nitrogen deposition, which amounts to some 9,800 hectares of temperate forest that can be restored. Realising the sequestration requires that restored forest remains legally protected and is not reassigned for purposes such as logging. Source: Climate Action Recap Gelderland (agriculture and land use sector analysis), New Economy.