Schmidt Sciences has funded a pioneering Leeds project which will improve understanding of the carbon cycle in the world’s second largest tropical rain forest.
Leeds researchers have been awarded significant funding to take the first ever airborne measurements of carbon dioxide in the Congo Basin.
This will enable them to assess whether Central Africa’s forests are absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and slowing climate change, or if they are releasing carbon dioxide and speeding it up.
The Leeds project makes up one of four teams of scientists who will receive up to $45m (£33.65m) between them over five years for research that advances human understanding of the global carbon cycle driving a changing climate. The teams are the first to be funded through Schmidt Sciences’ Virtual Institute for the Carbon Cycle.
The project, named Congo-FLEX, will investigate how processes such as deforestation, degradation and regrowth of forestland in the Congo Basin contribute to carbon cycle changes. The work will help inform policy decisions and provide early warnings for action.
Projects were selected for their potential to dramatically improve our understanding of the transfer of carbon between oceans, atmosphere, land, and living things, to drive better energy, environmental, economic decision making.
This project will definitively tell the world whether the world’s second largest tropical forest is slowing climate change or accelerating it, and why.
Simon Lewis, Professor of Global Change Science in the School of Geography, said: “The world’s land surface plays an essential role in the global carbon budget but there are major data gaps in this work. The Congo Basin is a particularly under-studied region.
“The Basin is home to the world’s largest tropical peatland complex, so it’s incredibly important.
“We want to thank Schmidt Sciences for their support. Our work will be key to understanding whether Central Africa’s forests are removing carbon from the atmosphere, or whether they are transitioning to become a source of carbon to the atmosphere. This project will definitively tell the world whether the world’s second largest tropical forest is slowing climate change or accelerating it, and why.”
The Virtual Institute for the Carbon Cycle aims to more accurately capture the carbon cycle – the global movement of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere, ocean, plants and soils.
Wendy Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt Sciences, said: “We are just starting to understand the true extent of humankind’s effect on the intricately woven systems of land, sea and air. The Virtual Institute for the Carbon Cycle will offer us not only clarity but also the information we need to make wise decisions along the way toward a healthier, more resilient and more secure world and future for all.”
More than 170 submissions were received for the funding, with the four successful projects being selected following review by independent experts and the VICC Advisory Board.
“We know that human activity is driving the carbon emissions that warm our planet – but we don’t yet understand precisely how the Earth is storing and cycling those emissions,” said Lexa Skrivanek, Schmidt Sciences program scientist and director of VICC. “Research like Congo-FLEX will give us the clarity we need to inform effective climate policy and solutions – not just over the next decades, but for centuries to come.”
Further information
For more information, email Ed Newbould, Digital Communications Officer at the University of Leeds, at e.w.newbould@leeds.ac.uk.
Read more about the Schmidt Sciences mission to narrow carbon cycle gap knowledge