A new remote sensing-based Carbon Sequestration Potential Index (CSPI): A tool to support land carbon management

Integrating remote sensing into assessments of carbon stocks and fluxes has advanced our understanding of how global change affects landscapes and our capacity to support decision making about forest management. However, there remains a lack of detailed and actionable analyses conducted across widely ranging environmental conditions that are appropriate for tactical planning. We used airborne laser scanning data and multi-source satellite imagery to estimate forest aboveground carbon density and gross primary production, and to map forest cover across the main Hawaiian Islands. We used these measures to develop the Carbon Sequestration Potential Index (CSPI), which identifies where the potential for carbon sequestration following afforestation would be highest within a complex landscape of 304 management units. Variation in CSPI was high across islands and between ecosystems, with low values for cool, dry and largely intact forest systems and high values for warm, wet and largely non-forested systems. The CSPI provided a rapid, spatially-explicit and actionable assessment of Hawaiian forest reserves, which can help stewardship agencies contribute to state carbon neutrality goals through climate-smart and science-driven prescriptions that encompass conservation to restoration.