Data from: 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 imperiled keystone herbivores and apex predators.

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。在非洲狮类栖息的保护区（Protected Areas, PAs）开展有效管理，预计每年需新增10亿至20亿美元的资金投入。本研究探讨了基于火管理的碳融资方案填补该资金缺口、同时改善退化稀树草原生态系统的可行性。研究表明，引入旱季早期火管理方案，可通过单一碳融资方式（减排）或多种固碳方式获取潜在碳收益（Potential Carbon Revenues, PCR）：在碳价为每吨5美元时，年收益可达5960万至6.559亿美元；在碳价为每吨13美元时，年收益可达1.55亿至17亿美元。研究同时指出，各稀树草原保护区的潜在碳收益存在差异但均较为可观，单个保护区年收益可达150万至4440万美元。本研究建议加大火管理项目投入，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，并保护濒危的关键草食动物与顶级捕食者。