HEFT - Hidden Emissions of Forest Transitions: GHG effects of socio-metabolic processes reducing pressures on forests

Gingrich Simone

Institute of Social Ecology (SEC)

01.04.2018 - 31.03.2024

Research project (§ 26 & § 27)

Program Horizon 2020 - Excellent Science - ERC Starting Grant (StG)

Funder European Commission (EC)

Competencies

Ressourcen und gesellschaftliche Dynamik

Abstract

A forest transition, i.e. forest expansion after a long period of deforestation, has occurred in many, mostly industrialized countries. Forest transitions have recently resulted in declining rates of global net deforestation and contributed to carbon (C) sinks in terrestrial ecosystems. Studies have shown the concurrence of forest transitions and industrialization processes, but the systemic links between forest transitions, their underlying socio-metabolic processes and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been neither systematically explored nor quantified. HEFT introduces the idea of “hidden emissions of forest transitions”, i.e. the GHG emissions from socio-metabolic processes reducing pressures on forests. Hidden emissions may stem from processes such as substitution of fuelwood by modern energy sources, intensification of agriculture, and externalization of biomass production to remote regions. Building on the concept of socio-ecological metabolism, HEFT develops a consistent methodological framework to quantify the full GHG emissions and sinks from socio-metabolic and ecological processes in the course of forest transitions, within which their hidden emissions are identified. Forest transitions in multiple contexts are analyzed at local, national and supranational scales: in Europe since c. 1850, North America since c. 1880, and South East Asia since 1980. A coarse global-scale assessment complements the regional case studies. We will integrate sources and analytical methods from environmental and social sciences as well as the humanities to analyze context-specific trajectories and general features of socio-ecological GHG budgets and their respective socio-political contexts since the onset of forest transitions. The sound understanding of hidden emissions will be used to identify the least GHG-intensive trajectories and to draw lessons for future climate-friendly forest transitions.

Publications

At the core of the socio-ecological transition: Agroecosystem energy fluxes in Austria 1830-2010

Autoren: Gingrich, S; Krausmann, F Jahr: 2018

Journal articles
Wälder in der umwelthistorischen Risikospirale [Teil 1]

Autoren: Schmid, M Jahr: 2019

Journal articles
Wälder in der umwelthistorischen Risikospirale [Teil 2]

Autoren: Schmid, M Jahr: 2019

Journal articles
Mehr Wohlstand, mehr Wald, mehr Klimaschutz?

Autoren: Gingrich, S Jahr: 2018

Newspaper / Magazine article
It's a numbers game? Uncertainties in tropical forest carbon stocks driven by differing global assessments

Autoren: Bhan, M; Erb, KH; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2019

Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
Which processes enabled the Austrian forest transition? Re-evaluating the climate change mitigation effect of long-term reforestation

Autoren: Gingrich, S; Le Noë, J; Lauk, C Jahr: 2019

Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
REDD+ in the context of industrializing land use: political-institutional and biophysical contradictions of forest transitions in Southeast Asia

Autoren: Pichler, M; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2019

Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
Hidden emissions of forest transitions: a socio-ecological reading of forest change

Autoren: Gingrich, S; Lauk, C; Niedertscheider, M; Pichler, M; Schaffartzik, A; Schmid, M; Magerl, A; Le Noe, J; Bhan, M; Erb, K Jahr: 2019

Journal articles
Forest transition and C cycle in France (1850-2018): a socio-ecological metabolism perspective

Autoren: Le Noë, J; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2019

Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
A socio-ecological reading of the forest transition in North America

Autoren: Magerl, A; Le Noë, J; Erb KH; Bhan, M; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2019

Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
What drove the forest transition in Austria? A counterfactual analysis

Autoren: Gingrich, S; Le Noë, J; Lauk, C Jahr: 2019

Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
Vom lichten zum dichten Wald

Autoren: Güldner, D Jahr: 2020

Journal articles
A comprehensive data-based assessment of forest ecosystem carbon stocks in the US 1907-2012

Autoren: Magerl, A; Le Noe, J; Erb, KH; Bhan, M; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2019

Journal articles
Modeling and empirical validation of long-term carbon sequestration in forests (France, 1850-2015).

Autoren: Le Noë, J; Matej, S; Magerl, A; Bhan, M; Erb, KH; Gingrich, S; Jahr: 2020

Journal articles
The phosphorus legacy offers opportunities for agro-ecological transition (France 1850-2075)

Autoren: Le Noe, J; Roux, N; Billen, G; Gingrich, S; Erb, KH; Krausmann, F; Thieu, V; Silvestre, M; Garnier, J Jahr: 2020

Journal articles
Eine sozial-ökologische Interpretation der „Forest Transition“ in den österreichischen Alpenländern des 19. Jahrhunderts

Autoren: Gingrich, S; Güldner, D; Schmid, M Jahr: 2020

Chapter in collected volumes
The social and ecological costs of reforestation. Territorialization and industrialization of land use accompany forest transitions in Southeast Asia

Autoren: Pichler, M; Bhan, M; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2021

Journal articles
Socio-ecological drivers of long-term ecosystem carbon stock trend: An assessment with the LUCCA model of the French case

Autoren: Le Noe, J; Erb, KH; Matej, S; Magerl, A; Bhan, M; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2021

Journal articles
Quantifying and attributing land use-induced carbon emissions to biomass consumption: A critical assessment of existing approaches

Autoren: Bhan, M; Gingrich, S; Roux, N; Noe, JL; Kastner, T; Matej, S; Schwarzmueller, F; Erb, KH Jahr: 2021

Journal articles
CULTURAL LANDSCAPE CHANGE: AN INDICATOR-BASED RETROSPECT INTO THE 19TH CENTURY. CASE STUDY OF THE MUNICIPALITIES WAIDHOFEN/YBBS AND PALDAU

Autoren: Knevels, R; Brenning, A; Gingrich, S; Gruber, E; Lechner, T; Leopold, P; Petschko, H; Plutzar, C Jahr: 2020

Journal articles
Negotiating between forest conversion, industrial tree plantations and multifunctional landscapes. Power and politics in forest transitions

Autoren: Pichler, M; Ingalls, M Jahr: 2021

Journal articles
Agroforestry trade-offs between biomass provision and aboveground carbon sequestration in the alpine Eisenwurzen region, Austria

Autoren: Bertsch-Hoermann, B; Egger, C; Gaube, V; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2021

Journal articles
Changes in energy and livestock systems largely explain the forest transition in Austria (1830-1910)

Autoren: Gingrich, S; Lauk, C; Krausmann, F; Erb, KH; Le Noe, J Jahr: 2021

Journal articles
Altered growth conditions more than reforestation counteracted forest biomass carbon emissions 1990-2020

Autoren: Le Noe, J; Erb, KH; Matej, S; Magerl, A; Bhan, M; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2021

Journal articles
Towards the Use of Land Use Legacies in Landslide Modeling: Current Challenges and Future Perspectives in an Austrian Case Study

Autoren: Knevels, R; Brenning, A; Gingrich, S; Heiss, G; Lechner, T; Leopold, P; Plutzar, C; Proske, H; Petschko, H Jahr: 2021

Journal articles
Restoring Degraded Lands

Autoren: Arneth, A; Olsson, L; Cowie, A; Erb, KH; Hurlbert, M; Kurz, WA; Mirzabaev, A; Rounsevell, MDA Jahr: 2021

Journal articles
Land Use Increases the Correlation between Tree Cover and Biomass Carbon Stocks in the Global Tropics

Autoren: Bhan, M; Gingrich, S; Matej, S; Fritz, S; Erb, KH Jahr: 2021

Journal articles
Land use intensification increasingly drives the spatiotemporal patterns of the global human appropriation of net primary production in the last century.

Autoren: Kastner, T; Matej, S; Forrest, M; Gingrich, S; Haberl, H; Hickler, T; Krausmann, F; Lasslop, G; Niedertscheider, M; Plutzar, C; Schwarzmüller, F; Steinkamp, J; Erb, KH; Jahr: 2022

Journal articles
Naturverträgliche Kohlenstoffspeicherung (Target 13.2 - Option 11)

Autoren: Erb, KH; Gratzer, G; Horvath, S-M; Kirchner, M; Spittler, N; Wenzel, W; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2021

Chapter in collected volumes
Reshaping the European agro-food system and closing its nitrogen cycle: The potential of combining dietary change, agroecology, and circularity

Autoren: Billen, G; Aguilera, E; Einarsson, R; Garnier, J; Gingrich, S; Grizzetti, B; Lassaletta, L; Le Noe, J; Sanz-Cobena, A Jahr: 2021

Journal articles
Global agricultural trade and land system sustainability: Implications for ecosystem carbon storage, biodiversity, and human nutrition

Autoren: Kastner, T; Chaudhary, A; Gingrich, S; Marques, A; Persson, UM; Bidoglio, G; Le Provost, G; Schwarzmuller, F Jahr: 2021

Journal articles
Biomass-Critical limits to a vital resource

Autoren: Erb, KH; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2022

Journal articles
Mechanisms to exclude local people from forests: Shifting power relations in forest transitions

Autoren: Pichler, M; Schmid, M; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2022

Journal articles
Forest Transitions in the United States, France and Austria: dynamics of forest change and their socio- metabolic drivers

Autoren: Gingrich, S; Magerl, A; Matej, S; Le Noe, J Jahr: 2022

Journal articles
Forest carbon sink in the US (1870-2012) driven by substitution of forest ecosystem service flows

Autoren: Magerl, A; Matej, S; Kaufmann, L; Le Noe, J; Erb, K; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2022

Journal articles
Toward sustainable and just forest recovery: research gaps and potentials for knowledge integration

Autoren: Scheidel, A; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2020

Journal articles
Ten facts about land systems for sustainability

Autoren: Meyfroidt, P; de Bremond, A; Ryan, CM; Archer, E; Aspinall, R; Chhabra, A; Camara, G; Corbera, E; DeFries, R; Diaz, S; Dong, JW; Ellis, EC; Erb, KH; Fisher, JA; Garrett, RD; Golubiewski, NE; Grau, HR; Grove, JM; Haberl, H; Heinimann, A; Hostert, P; Jobbagy, EG; Kerr, S; Kuemmerle, T; Lambin, EF; Lavorel, S; Lele, S; Mertz, O; Messerli, P; Metternicht, G; Munroe, DK; Nagendra, H; Nielsen, JO; Ojima, DS; Parker, DC; Pascual, U; Porter, JR; Ramankutty, N; Reenberg, A; Chowdhury, RR; Seto, KC; Seufert, V; Shibata, H; Thomson, A; Ii, BTL; Urabe, J; Veldkamp, T; Verburg, PH; Zeleke, G; zu Ermgassen, EKHJ Jahr: 2022

Journal articles
Changes in perspective needed to forge 'no-regret' forest-based climate change mitigation strategies

Autoren: Erb, KH; Haberl, H; Le Noe, J; Tappeiner, U; Tasser, E; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2022

Journal articles
A mid-20th century inventory-based estimate of global terrestrial vegetation carbon stocks

Autoren: Bhan, M; Meyfroidt, P; Matej, S; Erb, KH; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2022

Journal articles
Embodied HANPP of feed and animal products: Tracing pressure on ecosystems along trilateral livestock supply chains 1986-2013

Autoren: Roux, N; Kaufmann, L; Bhan, M; Le Noe, J; Matej, S; Laroche, P; Kastner, T; Bondeau, A; Haberl, H; Erb, K Jahr: 2022

Journal articles
Dynamics of fires, harvest and carbon stocks in US forests 1926-2017

Autoren: Magerl, A; Gingrich, S; Matej, S; Lauk, C; Cunfer, G; Yuskiw, C; Forrest, M; Schlaffer, S; Erb, KH Jahr: 2022

Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
A mid-20th century benchmark estimate of global vegetation biomass carbon stocks

Autoren: Bhan, M; Meyfroidt, P; Gingrich, S; Matej, S; Erb, KH Jahr: 2022

Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
The Sustainability Implications of Land Use. A Long-Term Socio-Ecological Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Impacts

Autoren: Gingrich, S Jahr: 2023

Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
How can forests help us?

Autoren: Erb, KH; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2022

Chapter in collected volumes
Das können wir besser! Möglichkeiten für eine sozialökologische Transformation

Autoren: Gingrich, S; Schaffartzik, A Jahr: 2022

Chapter in collected volumes
Carbon emissions from land acquisitions in Laos

Autoren: Bauernschuster, S; Pichler, M; Nanhthavong, V; Bernhard, R; Epprecht, M; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2022

Journal articles
Combining biophysical modeling and Polanyian theory pleads for a re-embedding of the agricultural system in 2050 in Austria

Autoren: Le Noe, J; Gingrich, S; Pichler, M; Roux, N; Kaufmann, L; Mayer, A; Lauk, C Jahr: 2023

Journal articles
Reshaping agro-food systems for an ecological bifurcation: Methodology and assumptions for scenario construction through the GRAFS approach

Autoren: Billen, G, Aguilera, E; Einarsson, R; Garnier, J; Gingrich, S; Grizzetti, B; Lassaletta, L; Le Noë, J; Sanz-Cobeña, A Jahr: 2022

Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
Knowledge for integrated nutrient management: flows, targets and possible measures in the European Union

Autoren: Grizzetti, B; Vigiak, O; Aguilera, E; Aloe, A; Biganzoli, F; Billen, G; Caldeira, C; de Meij, A; Egle, L; Einarsson, R; Garnier, J; Gingrich, S; Hristov, J; Huygens, D; Koeble, R; Lassaletta, L; Le Noë, J; Liakos, L; Lugato, E; Panagos, P; Pisoni, E; Pistocchi, A; Sanz-Cobeña, A; Udias, A; Weiss, F; Wilson, J; Zanni, M Jahr: 2022

Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
From woodfuel to industrial wood: A socio-metabolic reading of the forest transition in Spain (1860-2010)

Autoren: Infante-Amate, J; Iriarte-Goni, I; Urrego-Mesa, A; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2022

Journal articles
Discursive and biophysical dimensions of land sparing policies in Laos: Implications for greenhouse gas emissions and food security

Autoren: Bauernschuster, S; Pichler, M; Ingalls, M; Thongmanivong, S; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2022

Journal articles
The Role of Wildfires in the Interplay of Forest Carbon Stocks and Wood Harvest in the Contiguous United States During the 20th Century

Autoren: Magerl, A; Gingrich, S; Matej, S; Cunfer, G; Forrest, M; Lauk, C; Schlaffer, S; Weidinger, F; Yuskiw, C; Erb, KH Jahr: 2023

Journal articles
The nexus between climate change mitigation and development in Laos

Autoren: Bauernschuster, S Jahr: 2023

Doctoral Thesis
Analyzing long-term dynamics of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions in Austria, 1830–2018

Autoren: Christian Lauk; Andreas Magerl; Julia le Noë; Michaela C. Theurl; Simone Gingrich Jahr: 2024

Journal articles
Assessing the energy trap of industrial agriculture in North America and Europe: 82 balances from 1830 to 2012

Autoren: Enric Tello; Vera Sacristán; José R. Olarieta; Claudio Cattaneo; Joan Marull; Manel Pons; Simone Gingrich; Fridolin Krausmann; Elena Galán; Inés Marco; Roc Padró; Gloria I. Guzmán; Manuel González de Molina; Geoff Cunfer; Andrew Watson; Joshua MacFadyen; Eva Fraňková; Eduardo Aguilera; Juan Infante-Amate; Alexander Urrego-Mesa; David Soto; Lluis Parcerisas; Jérôme Dupras; Lucía Díez-Sanjuán; Jonathan Caravaca; Laura Gómez; Onofre Fullana; Ivan Murray; Gabriel Jover; Xavier Cussó; Ramon Garrabou Jahr: 2023

Journal articles
Agroforestry trade-offs beween biomass provision and aboveground carbon sequestration in the alpine Eisenwurzen region, Austria

Autoren: Bertsch-Hörmann, B; Egger, C; Gaube, V; Gingrich, S Jahr: 2023

Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
Livestock increasingly drove global agricultural emissions growth from 1910-2015

Autoren: Gingrich, S; Theurl, M; Erb, KH; Le Noë, J; Magerl, A; Bauernschuster, S; Krausmann, F; Lauk, C Jahr: 2024

Journal articles

BOKU partners

Institute of Social Ecology (SEC)

role coordinator

External partners

National University of Laos

none

partner

HEFT - Hidden Emissions of Forest Transitions: GHG effects of socio-metabolic processes reducing pressures on forests

Abstract

Publications

At the core of the socio-ecological transition: Agroecosystem energy fluxes in Austria 1830-2010

Wälder in der umwelthistorischen Risikospirale [Teil 1]

Wälder in der umwelthistorischen Risikospirale [Teil 2]

Mehr Wohlstand, mehr Wald, mehr Klimaschutz?

It's a numbers game? Uncertainties in tropical forest carbon stocks driven by differing global assessments

Which processes enabled the Austrian forest transition? Re-evaluating the climate change mitigation effect of long-term reforestation

REDD+ in the context of industrializing land use: political-institutional and biophysical contradictions of forest transitions in Southeast Asia

Hidden emissions of forest transitions: a socio-ecological reading of forest change

Forest transition and C cycle in France (1850-2018): a socio-ecological metabolism perspective

A socio-ecological reading of the forest transition in North America

What drove the forest transition in Austria? A counterfactual analysis

Vom lichten zum dichten Wald

A comprehensive data-based assessment of forest ecosystem carbon stocks in the US 1907-2012

Modeling and empirical validation of long-term carbon sequestration in forests (France, 1850-2015).

The phosphorus legacy offers opportunities for agro-ecological transition (France 1850-2075)

Eine sozial-ökologische Interpretation der „Forest Transition“ in den österreichischen Alpenländern des 19. Jahrhunderts

The social and ecological costs of reforestation. Territorialization and industrialization of land use accompany forest transitions in Southeast Asia

Socio-ecological drivers of long-term ecosystem carbon stock trend: An assessment with the LUCCA model of the French case

Quantifying and attributing land use-induced carbon emissions to biomass consumption: A critical assessment of existing approaches

CULTURAL LANDSCAPE CHANGE: AN INDICATOR-BASED RETROSPECT INTO THE 19TH CENTURY. CASE STUDY OF THE MUNICIPALITIES WAIDHOFEN/YBBS AND PALDAU

Negotiating between forest conversion, industrial tree plantations and multifunctional landscapes. Power and politics in forest transitions

Agroforestry trade-offs between biomass provision and aboveground carbon sequestration in the alpine Eisenwurzen region, Austria

Changes in energy and livestock systems largely explain the forest transition in Austria (1830-1910)

Altered growth conditions more than reforestation counteracted forest biomass carbon emissions 1990-2020

Towards the Use of Land Use Legacies in Landslide Modeling: Current Challenges and Future Perspectives in an Austrian Case Study

Restoring Degraded Lands

Land Use Increases the Correlation between Tree Cover and Biomass Carbon Stocks in the Global Tropics

Land use intensification increasingly drives the spatiotemporal patterns of the global human appropriation of net primary production in the last century.

Naturverträgliche Kohlenstoffspeicherung (Target 13.2 - Option 11)

Reshaping the European agro-food system and closing its nitrogen cycle: The potential of combining dietary change, agroecology, and circularity

Global agricultural trade and land system sustainability: Implications for ecosystem carbon storage, biodiversity, and human nutrition

Biomass-Critical limits to a vital resource

Mechanisms to exclude local people from forests: Shifting power relations in forest transitions

Forest Transitions in the United States, France and Austria: dynamics of forest change and their socio- metabolic drivers

Forest carbon sink in the US (1870-2012) driven by substitution of forest ecosystem service flows

Toward sustainable and just forest recovery: research gaps and potentials for knowledge integration

Ten facts about land systems for sustainability

Changes in perspective needed to forge 'no-regret' forest-based climate change mitigation strategies

A mid-20th century inventory-based estimate of global terrestrial vegetation carbon stocks

Embodied HANPP of feed and animal products: Tracing pressure on ecosystems along trilateral livestock supply chains 1986-2013

Dynamics of fires, harvest and carbon stocks in US forests 1926-2017

A mid-20th century benchmark estimate of global vegetation biomass carbon stocks

The Sustainability Implications of Land Use. A Long-Term Socio-Ecological Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Impacts

How can forests help us?

Das können wir besser! Möglichkeiten für eine sozialökologische Transformation

Carbon emissions from land acquisitions in Laos

Combining biophysical modeling and Polanyian theory pleads for a re-embedding of the agricultural system in 2050 in Austria

Reshaping agro-food systems for an ecological bifurcation: Methodology and assumptions for scenario construction through the GRAFS approach

Knowledge for integrated nutrient management: flows, targets and possible measures in the European Union

From woodfuel to industrial wood: A socio-metabolic reading of the forest transition in Spain (1860-2010)

Discursive and biophysical dimensions of land sparing policies in Laos: Implications for greenhouse gas emissions and food security

The Role of Wildfires in the Interplay of Forest Carbon Stocks and Wood Harvest in the Contiguous United States During the 20th Century

The nexus between climate change mitigation and development in Laos

Analyzing long-term dynamics of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions in Austria, 1830–2018

Assessing the energy trap of industrial agriculture in North America and Europe: 82 balances from 1830 to 2012

Agroforestry trade-offs beween biomass provision and aboveground carbon sequestration in the alpine Eisenwurzen region, Austria

Livestock increasingly drove global agricultural emissions growth from 1910-2015

Project staff

BOKU partners

External partners

National University of Laos