Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) activities are being implemented around the world to improve the ecological and economic productivity of degraded lands. As trees grow, they pull and store carbon from the atmosphere, helping to lower the high greenhouse gas concentrations driving climate change.

The FLR Carbon Storage Calculator estimates the amount of carbon stored by the following FLR activities across the globe:

• Agroforestry
• Plantations and Woodlots
• Natural Regeneration
• Mangrove Restoration

These activities are defined by the IUCN Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology. The FLR Carbon Storage Calculator applies data from the Global Removals Database developed by Winrock International under funding from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), later published in Bernal et al. “Global Carbon Dioxide Removal Rates from Forest Landscape Restoration Activities.” Carbon Balance and Management, vol. 13, no. 1, 2018, doi:10.1186/s13021-018-0110-8. A downloadable, Microsoft Excel version of the tool is available here.

Directions:

Select Country and Region. Relevant FLR activities will then appear below where you can enter the number of hectares planted/restored per year for each FLR activity of interest. The number of hectares planted/restored should be annual (not cumulative). The Plantations and Woodlots’ and Mangrove Restoration FLR activities also require that you select the species composition using the dropdown menus. The tables and graphs underneath the data entry section will automatically calculate the carbon stored annually and cumulatively.

The FLR Carbon Storage Calculator does not have the functionality to estimate the carbon stored by FLR activities implemented across multiple geographies. If you wish to do so, print or record results for per geography and estimate totals separately. To save or print results as a PDF, right click the page and select the print option. In the print window, select ‘Save as PDF’ as the destination (rather than a printer).