Nature-Based Climate Solutions
A Roadmap to Accelerate Action in California
With swift policy action and investment, California can ensure that its natural and working lands reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save more than $24 billion in damages, and provide multiple benefits to communities, including those most in need.
Nature-Based Climate Solutions
Palo Corona Ranch, Photo Credit: Mark Godfrey/TNC
California has shown its climate leadership since 2006 with innovation, bipartisanship, and comprehensive policy action to reduce greenhouse gases and other emissions. Through these actions, the state is making significant gains to address global warming and is charting a path to become carbon neutral by 2045. In spite of California’s efforts, its diverse and iconic landscapes face multiple threats as global temperatures continue to rise.
California’s natural and working lands – its forests, grasslands, wetlands, farmlands, rangeland, and urban green spaces – provide Californians with numerous environmental, social, and economic benefits, including greenhouse gas reductions (e.g., carbon sequestration).
California wildfires, Photo Credit: Ben Jiang/TNC Photo Contest 2019
However, extreme heat events, droughts, floods, wildfires, development, and other anthropogenic impacts are compromising the ability of our lands to provide climate benefits. Without direct and immediate intervention, there is a risk that California’s natural and working lands will increasingly become a net source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, instead of a net sink, making it more challenging for California to meet its climate goals and protect communities.
Fortunately, if we act now with targeted policies and investment, conservation and land management activities can help reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and safeguard communities.
28 million acres of California's land can reduce GHG emissions by over 500 million metric tons cumulatively by 2050 -- which is equivalent to reducing the total statewide emissions from the transportation sector over 3 years.
Benefits
Across California, 28 million acres of natural and working lands can be used to mitigate climate change while achieving multiple additional benefits for people and nature. These benefits include, among others, open space for communities, habitat resilience, improved groundwater recharge, climate connectivity, improved agricultural land, flood risk reduction, and improved habitat for wildlife.
Co-benefits of nature-based climate solutions
In addition to supporting the state's climate goals, nature-based climate solutions can ensure access to local food, safeguard communities from floods and other inevitable climate risks, protect species habitat, among other benefits.
Swipe to see how nature-based climate solutions intersect with co-benefits. (Note: Multiple nature-based activities and co-benefits are suitable in most locations. This map does not show the full extent of each opportunity; the colors shown reflect the predominant activity and co-benefit in any location.)
Additionally, more than 60% of the land suitable for these activities falls within disadvantaged and low-income communities.
By targeting nature-based climate solutions in these regions, we can prioritize action toward the communities that often are first in experiencing devastating climate impacts.
More than 60% of land suitable for nature-based climate solutions lies within disadvantaged and low-income communities.
How Do We Get There?
California cannot reach its climate goals without nature-based climate solutions.
While additional dedicated funding is essential, the state can accelerate action quickly through existing and proactive policies, coordination, and targeted investment. These actions include:
- Identifying near-term, medium and long-term climate goals for California’s natural and working lands, including specific goals for disadvantaged and low-income communities
- Elevating natural and working lands (and their climate benefits) across state grant programs, including those that are not typically focused on natural resources, including health, transportation, housing and other land use planning programs
- Reducing permitting and associated agency coordination barriers to natural resource restoration in areas like wetlands
- Advancing greater funding coordination across state, federal, and local governments and private entities
- Aligning state programs and their guidelines to consistently account for the collective climate benefits of natural and working lands and the climate impacts from their loss, and reducing guideline inconsistencies
- Increasing outreach and technical support to grantees and using existing tools, universities and extension specialists to build capacity to assess the climate benefits of natural and working lands
- Including more experts in ecology, ecosystem and climate health and land use in government decision-making bodies
- Expanding public outreach and education regarding the connections between the climate benefits of natural and working lands and healthy food, community safety and public health.
With strategic policy implementation across the State, California can prevail in its efforts to reach carbon neutrality, lead national and international innovative climate action, and protect urban, suburban and rural communities alike.
Policy Opportunities by Region
Case Studies to Accelerate Action
This report identifies policy pathways for nature-based climate solutions across California.
Regional case studies provide additional context to identify and understand different policy opportunities and recommendations.
Utility Partnerships, Urban Reforestation, & Closing the Canopy Gap: Urban Reforestation in the City of Los Angeles
In 2019, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti released a Green New Deal that includes a goal for the City to be carbon neutral by 2050. To help reach this goal, the City plans to plant 90,000 trees citywide by the end of 2021 and to increase tree canopy by 50% in 2028 in low-income, high need areas.
Key recommendations:
- Leverage funding for urban reforestation and tree maintenance through partnerships with utilities
- Launch a statewide initiative to close the tree canopy gap in underserved communities ( TNC developed a tool that identifies opportunities to increase tree cover in underserved communities)
- Align guidelines across relevant state programs
CEQA, Land Conservation & GHG Reductions: Avoided Conversion in San Diego County
San Diego County has a strong legacy of conservation achievements. However, continued development threatens both habitat conservation efforts and the climate mitigation benefits provided by intact lands. Greater alignment between Senate Bill 375 and CEQA, along with land-use planning that integrates conservation, can reduce emission from land conversion and transportation.
Key recommendations:
- Revise CEQA GHG mitigation guidelines
- Implement a pilot project to demonstrate how CEQA GHG mitigation can support an integrated approach to land conservation and efforts to reduce transportation emissions
- Revise SB 375 to more effectively integrate and prioritize land conservation as a companion strategy to the reduction of transportation emissions
- Identify the emission reduction synergies between land conservation and reductions in vehicle miles traveled
Carbon Markets, Easements & Forest Carbon Management in Sonoma County
The Buckeye Forest covers 30 square miles of the Gualala River Watershed. Originally slated for development and subdivision, instead, The Conservation Fund (TCF) purchased the land with a conservation easement. With improved forest management, TCF has reduced 100,000 tons of GHGs annually since 2013, while providing millions of dollars in offset revenues for the California Coastal Conservancy.
Key recommendations:
- Leverage use of conservation and working forest easements for climate benefits.
- Enable more landowner access to carbon markets.
- Facilitate combined use of easements and carbon markets.
Williamson Act & County-Scale Climate Action in Merced County
The Central Valley drives California’s food production. Increasing climate stress and rapid urban growth spur the conversion of agricultural land to urban uses – which increases GHG emissions, decreases land for food production, and degrades wildlife habitat. When coupled with capacity building and financial incentives, technical climate tools and metrics can help address pressing land-use decisions in a climate-smart way.
Key Recommendations:
- Leverage use of existing climate tools and metrics (including the Department of Conservation’s TerraCount) that support nature-based climate strategies.
- Provide incentives to local governments and landowners to implement nature-based climate strategies. Incentives include re-envisioning the Williamson Act, using TerraCount with GGRF funded programs, and supporting the implementation of low-impact solar or upland habitat restoration on retired lands to help meet SGMA water demand needs.
Partnerships, Permit Coordination & Fire Risk Reduction in Placer County
The French Meadows Project, located in the northern Sierra Nevada, is a restoration and fuel reduction project that includes 28,000 acres of forest lands. Using an innovative partnership framework for planning, management, and implementation, the Project showcases how collaboration can accelerate permitting processes and provide access to diverse funding sources – helping to facilitate restoration activities on landscape scales.
Key recommendations:
- Collaboration and planning across jurisdictions and stakeholders is essential to expedite action.
- Improve the permitting process for forest restoration.
- Continue to prioritize funding and develop new incentives for forest restoration and reduced fire risk.
Transportation Funding & Wetland Conservation in Contra Costa County
The One Bay Area Grant (OBAG) Program uses an innovative approach that leverages federal transportation funds to support land conservation and restoration. By combining transportation and conservation dollars, the Program has been able to support the conservation and restoration of many projects in the Bay Area, including the Dotson Family Marsh.
Key recommendations:
- Enable regional transportation agencies to replicate and implement programs like OBAG.
- Facilitate greater use and pairing of transportation funds with land conservation and restoration.
Permit Coordination & Wetland Restoration in Monterey County
The Hester Marsh Restoration project, led by the Tidal Wetland Program at the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, includes the restoration of 120 acres of tidal marsh. There is potential for more wetland restoration across the region and the state with roughly 158,000 available acres along the Central Coast alone and nearly 1.9 million acres of coastal and inland wetlands across the state.
Key recommendations:
- Improve the CEQA permitting process and agency/government coordination.
- Facilitate new markets and incentives for the climate benefits of wetland restoration and conservation.
- Elevate and fund wetland restoration and nature-based strategies in pre-disaster mitigation efforts.
Explore Your Community
Use the interactive web map to learn about opportunities to implement nature-based climate solutions in your region and see how they intersect with environmental co-benefits.
ArcGIS Web Application
Filter for your area of interest in the interactive chart to see which nature-based solutions are suitable in your region.
- In the green panel below, click on the relevant drop-down arrow to select your county, assembly district, or senate district to view the acres of nature-based climate solutions in your area of interest.
ArcGIS Dashboards
