MAAP Takes an Unprecidented Look at Carbon in the Amazon

August 12, 2024

The Amazon biome plays a vital role in stabilizing global climate, having long been one of the largest carbon sinks in the world. Despite this, accurate estimations of this carbon have been a challenge. Still, thanks to new satellite-based technologies providing major advances (most notably NASA’s GEDI mission [see MAAP #213] and, most recently, Planet Forest Carbon Diligence), MAAP has been able to collect new data sets that give a more detailed estimate of the total above-ground carbon in the Amazon. 

MAAP #215 presents an analysis of Planet’s cutting-edge new dataset, featuring a 10-year historical time series (2013 – 2022) with wall-to-wall estimates for aboveground carbon density at 30-meter resolution. Through a generous sharing agreement with Planet, we have been granted access to this data across the entire Amazon biome for the analysis presented in the following three-part series:

  1. Estimate and illustrate total aboveground forest carbon across the Amazon biome in unprecedented detail (see below).
  2. Highlight which parts of the Amazon are home to the highest aboveground carbon levels, including protected areas and Indigenous territories (see part 2).
  3. Present emblematic deforestation cases have resulted in the highest aboveground carbon emissions across the Amazon (see part 3).

This report presents the major results for part 1. More reports on parts 2 and 3 will follow in the upcoming weeks. 

Based on our analysis of Planet Forest Carbon Diligence, we estimate that the Amazon contained 56.8 billion metric tons of aboveground carbon, as of 2022 (see Base Map), with peak carbon levels largely concentrated in the southwest Amazon (southern Peru and adjacent western Brazil) and northeast Amazon (northeast Brazil, French Guiana, and Suriname).

The Countries with the most aboveground carbon are 1) Brazil (57%), 2) Peru (15%), 3) Colombia (7%), 4) Venezuela (6%), and 5) Bolivia (6%). These countries are followed by Guyana (3%), Suriname (3%), Ecuador (2%), and French Guiana (2%). 

 

Read the full report here.