Climate Change Stories

Living Carbon: Stories of Nature’s Climate Solutions

In this series, we showcase innovative carbon projects and the local communities leading the way.

Aerial photo of forests in the Emerald Edge of British Columbia.
Old-growth Forest Old-growth forest at Clayoquot Sound © Bryan Evans

Across the globe, there are places that teem with nature that are thick with life, that we can’t afford to lose. Thes are places that naturally capture and store vast amounts of climate-changing carbon but are vulnerable to destruction from unsustainable logging, development, and other threats.

The protection of these places is critical not only to confront the climate crisis, but also to provide food, water, habitat, and security to diverse species and human communities.

We’ve curated some of our favorite stories of how nature is providing climate solutions for both people and wildlife–from the dense forests of Latin America, to family-stewarded lands in the United States, to innovative projects across Africa, to the world’s largest coastal temperate rainforest stretching 100-million acres across Canada and the U.S.

Aerial view of Clayoquot Sound landscape.
Clayoquot Sound An aerial view of Clayoquot Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. © Bryan Evans

How the Emerald Edge Could Help Change the World

In this remarkable forest that stretches from Washington to Alaska, Indigenous Peoples and local communities are leading the way in showing how nature is a critical and complementary solution to addressing the climate crisis at the scale it demands.

Journey to the Emerald Edge
A low view of a stream running through woods.
Brodhead Creek at Pasold Farm Pasold Farm Nature Preserve in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania protects the Brodhead Creek, the direct source of drinking water for thousands of people downstream. © Terratracks by Ray Roper

How Small Landowners Make a Big Climate Difference

The U.S. Family Forest Carbon Program opens up a pathway for small forest owners to improve forest health and help climate change while earning an income to cover the cost of taking care of their land.

How One Family Does It
Two people hold a mangrove sapling to plant it.
Picking Mangroves Esha Sizi (left) and Shakila Shebwana (right) are members of the Mtangawanda Women’s Association. Here, they move seedlings from the nursery to the plantation at the Mangrove restoration site in Mtangawanda, Lamu, Kenya. The group manages mangrove restoration off the coast of Lamu County. The county is home to nearly 60% of Kenya's mangrove forest, an important ecosystem that also defends coastlines from storms and stores carbon. © Sarah Waiswa

Catalyzing Carbon Projects in Africa

The Nature Conservancy's Charlie Langan describes how innovative carbon projects in Africa offer hope for storing carbon, sustainable development and safeguarding important ecosystems.

Read Charlie's Interview
Large, coniferous trees from below at sunset.
Alerce Trees at Sunset Alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides) trees stand towards the sky at dusk in the Alerce Coastal National Park, Los Rios, Chile. © Nick Hall

Breathing New Life into Chile’s Ancient Valdivian Forest

The Valdivian Coastal Reserve is a pioneering living forest carbon project, delivering benefits to local communities and biodiversity, and trialing methodologies that can help other regions.

Explore Chile's Natural Wonders

Watch an Explainer

Natural Climate Solutions and Carbon Markets Explained

Natural Climate Solutions Explained (3:01) In this video, it's the future, and we look back on how we saved the world with nature. In the 2020s, we learned that nature could pull 11 billion metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere. This was a full third of the emission reductions we needed! So how did nature do all this?
Carbon Markets Explained (2:45) If we want to keep the climate in safe boundaries, we need to reach net-zero emissions as soon as possible. But eliminating some carbon sources will be easier than others. That’s where carbon markets can help.

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