Overview

• Researchers estimate a 344 billion metric ton carbon deficit in vegetation and soils, comparable to global fossil-fuel CO2 emissions over the past 50 years.
• Most of the depletion is linked to the expansion of pastures and croplands along with forest management practices.
• The high-resolution maps pinpoint where ecosystems diverge from low-impact baselines, providing geographically specific indicators of degradation.
• The authors say the results can guide conservation and restoration priorities, evaluate land-based carbon removal, and improve climate-model projections.
• The study reports that many existing vegetation models underestimate the loss, and it is published in One Earth (DOI: 10.1016/j.oneear.2025.101392).