A burning issue: Savanna fire management can generate enough carbon revenue to help restore Africa’s rangelands and fill protected area funding gaps

Many savanna-dependent species in Africa including large herbivores and apex predators are at increasing risk of extinction. Achieving effective management of protected areas (PAs) in Africa where lions live will cost an estimated USD >$1-2 B/year in new funding. We explored the potential for fire management-based carbon-financing programs to fill this funding gap and benefit degrading savanna ecosystems. We demonstrated how introducing early dry season fire management programs could produce potential carbon revenues (PCR) from either a single carbon-financing method (avoided emissions) or from multiple sequestration methods ranging from USD $59.6-$655.9 M/year (at USD $5/ton) or USD $155.0 M–$1.7 B/year (at USD $13/ton). We highlighted variable but significant PCR for savanna PAs from USD $1.5–$44.4 M/year per PA. We suggest investing in fire management programs to jump-start the United Nations Decade of Ecological Restoration to help restore degraded African savannas and conserve...非洲众多依赖稀树草原的物种，包括大型草食动物与顶级捕食者，正面临日益加剧的灭绝风险。在非洲狮子栖息的保护区（Protected Areas, PAs）实施高效管理，据估算每年需新增10亿至20亿美元的资金投入。本研究探索了基于火管理的碳融资项目填补该资金缺口、助力退化稀树草原生态系统修复的可行性。研究证明，引入旱季早期火管理项目，可通过单一碳融资方式（减排）或多种固碳方式获得潜在碳收入（Potential Carbon Revenues, PCR），年收入规模可达5960万至6.559亿美元（按每吨5美元计算），或1.55亿至17亿美元（按每吨13美元计算）。研究还指出，各稀树草原保护区的潜在碳收入存在差异但体量可观，单个保护区年收入可达150万至4440万美元。本研究建议投资火管理项目，以启动联合国生态修复十年计划，助力修复退化的非洲稀树草原并开展保护工作……