Controlled burning of natural environments could help offset our carbon emissions

Planting trees and suppressing wildfires do not necessarily maximise the carbon storage of natural ecosystems. A new study has found that prescribed burning can actually lock in or increase carbon in the soils of temperate forests, savannahs and grasslands. When managed properly, fire can be good - both for maintaining biodiversity and for carbon storage Adam Pellegrini The finding points to a new method of manipulating the world's natural capacity for carbon capture and storage, which can also help to maintain natural ecosystem processes. The results are published today . "Using controlled burns in forests to mitigate future wildfire severity is a relatively well-known process. But we've found that in ecosystems including temperate forests, savannahs and grasslands, fire can stabilise or even increase soil carbon," said Dr Adam Pellegrini in the University of Cambridge's Department of Plant Sciences, first author of the report. He added: "Most of the fires in natural ecosystems around the globe are controlled burns, so we should see this as an opportunity.