TY - JOUR
T1 - We must stop fossil fuel emissions to protect permafrost ecosystems
AU - Abbott, Benjamin W.
AU - Brown, Michael
AU - Carey, Joanna C.
AU - Ernakovich, Jessica
AU - Frederick, Jennifer M.
AU - Guo, Laodong
AU - Hugelius, Gustaf
AU - Lee, Raymond M.
AU - Loranty, Michael M.
AU - Macdonald, Robie
AU - Mann, Paul J.
AU - Natali, Susan M.
AU - Olefeldt, David
AU - Pearson, Pam
AU - Rec, Abigail
AU - Robards, Martin
AU - Salmon, Verity G.
AU - Sayedi, Sayedeh Sara
AU - Schädel, Christina
AU - Schuur, Edward A. G.
AU - Shakil, Sarah
AU - Shogren, Arial J.
AU - Strauss, Jens
AU - Tank, Suzanne E.
AU - Thornton, Brett F.
AU - Treharne, Rachael
AU - Turetsky, Merritt
AU - Voigt, Carolina
AU - Wright, Nancy
AU - Yang, Yuanhe
AU - Zarnetske, Jay P.
AU - Zhang, Qiwen
AU - Zolkos, Scott
N1 - Funding information: This work was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (award numbers 1916565, 1916567, 1916576, 1906381, and 1931333). VGS was supported by NGEE Arctic, a project funded by the Department of Energy’s Biological and Environmental Research Program (ORNL Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 awarded to UTBattelle, LLC). JMF was supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program at Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.
PY - 2022/6/29
Y1 - 2022/6/29
N2 - Climate change is an existential threat to the vast global permafrost domain. The diverse human cultures, ecological communities, and biogeochemical cycles of this tenth of the planet depend on the persistence of frozen conditions. The complexity, immensity, and remoteness of permafrost ecosystems make it difficult to grasp how quickly things are changing and what can be done about it. Here, we summarize terrestrial and marine changes in the permafrost domain with an eye toward global policy. While many questions remain, we know that continued fossil fuel burning is incompatible with the continued existence of the permafrost domain as we know it. If we fail to protect permafrost ecosystems, the consequences for human rights, biosphere integrity, and global climate will be severe. The policy implications are clear: the faster we reduce human emissions and draw down atmospheric CO2, the more of the permafrost domain we can save. Emissions reduction targets must be strengthened and accompanied by support for local peoples to protect intact ecological communities and natural carbon sinks within the permafrost domain. Some proposed geoengineering interventions such as solar shading, surface albedo modification, and vegetation manipulations are unproven and may exacerbate environmental injustice without providing lasting protection. Conversely, astounding advances in renewable energy have reopened viable pathways to halve human greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and effectively stop them well before 2050. We call on leaders, corporations, researchers, and citizens everywhere to acknowledge the global importance of the permafrost domain and work towards climate restoration and empowerment of Indigenous and immigrant communities in these regions.
AB - Climate change is an existential threat to the vast global permafrost domain. The diverse human cultures, ecological communities, and biogeochemical cycles of this tenth of the planet depend on the persistence of frozen conditions. The complexity, immensity, and remoteness of permafrost ecosystems make it difficult to grasp how quickly things are changing and what can be done about it. Here, we summarize terrestrial and marine changes in the permafrost domain with an eye toward global policy. While many questions remain, we know that continued fossil fuel burning is incompatible with the continued existence of the permafrost domain as we know it. If we fail to protect permafrost ecosystems, the consequences for human rights, biosphere integrity, and global climate will be severe. The policy implications are clear: the faster we reduce human emissions and draw down atmospheric CO2, the more of the permafrost domain we can save. Emissions reduction targets must be strengthened and accompanied by support for local peoples to protect intact ecological communities and natural carbon sinks within the permafrost domain. Some proposed geoengineering interventions such as solar shading, surface albedo modification, and vegetation manipulations are unproven and may exacerbate environmental injustice without providing lasting protection. Conversely, astounding advances in renewable energy have reopened viable pathways to halve human greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and effectively stop them well before 2050. We call on leaders, corporations, researchers, and citizens everywhere to acknowledge the global importance of the permafrost domain and work towards climate restoration and empowerment of Indigenous and immigrant communities in these regions.
KW - permafrost climate feedback
KW - Arctic
KW - Boreal
KW - climate policy
KW - renewable energy
KW - ecosystem feedback
KW - permafrost domain
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85134211586&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fenvs.2022.889428
DO - 10.3389/fenvs.2022.889428
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85134211586
SN - 2296-665X
VL - 10
SP - 1
EP - 13
JO - Frontiers in Environmental Science
JF - Frontiers in Environmental Science
M1 - 889428
ER -