Data and code for: Nature-based climate solutions can help mitigate the radiative forcing that follows deforestation

Widespread expansion of agriculture and forestry has altered the surface of the Earth, the composition of the atmosphere, and as a result, the climate. Here we quantify the radiative forcing caused by the deforestation of an ecoregion of the U.S. Upper Midwest and the adoption of eight nature-based climate solutions. We combined forest inventory data with over three decades of remote sensing and in situ data from a replicated land use change experiment. Deforestation of the region caused net global warming (1626 ± 44 µW m-2), mainly from the 76 % reduction of ecosystem carbon stocks, but also from the 84 % reduction of the soil methane sink and the 115 % increase in soil nitrous oxide emissions. The associated albedo increase offset 24 % of the greenhouse gas induced warming. For the adoption of nature-based climate solutions, we found that conservation agriculture provided a modest -39 to -76 ± 31 µW m-2 of climate mitigation, short/medium length forestry rotations provided more at -29..., , # README

### Nature-based climate solutions can help mitigate the radiative forcing that follows deforestation

**Authors:** Grant Falvo and G. Philip Robertson

**Affiliations:** Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences and W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 48824

**Email:** [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])

**Author Contributions:** GF contributed to the manuscript conception, data collection, data analysis, the original manuscript draft, and manuscript revisions. GPR contributed to study design, data collection, manuscript revisions, and funding acquisition.

**Competing Interest Statement:** The authors declare no competing interests.

**Keywords:** Climate change, land use change, nature-based climate solutions, radiative forcing, greenhouse gas

### Abstract

Widespread expansion of agriculture and forestry has altered the surface of the Earth, the composition of the atmosphere, and as a result, the clima...,