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Changing climate can strongly affect tree growth and forest productivity. The dendrochronological approach to assessing the impact of climate change on tree growth is possible through climate–growth correlation analysis. This study uses an individual tree-based approach to model Pinus wallichiana (P. wallichiana) radial growth response to climate across the physiographic gradients in the lower distributional range of Nepal. This study sampled six sites across the Makwanpur district of central Nepal that varied in elevation and aspect, obtaining 180 tree-ring series. Climate data series were obtained from Climate Research Unit (CRU 4.0). The pair correlation approach was used to assess P. wallichiana growth response to climate and site-level physiographic variables such as site-level environmental stress. The study also determined long-term growth trends across the elevation and aspect gradients. Trees at sites with higher elevation and northeast aspect (NEA) were more responsive to winter and spring precipitation, whereas trees with lower elevation and northwest aspect (NWA) were more responsive to winter and spring precipitation. Basal area increment (BAI) analysis showed the variation of growth at site-level environmental stress, suggesting that the sensitivity of forest ecosystems to changing climate will vary across the lower growth limit of P. wallichiana due to differences in local physiographic conditions.
Rewetting is the most effective way to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from drained peatlands and must significantly contribute to the implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate within the land sector. In 2010–2013, more than 73 thousand hectares of fire-prone peatlands were rewetted in the Moscow Region (the hitherto largest rewetting program in the Northern Hemisphere). As the Russian Federation has no national accounting of rewetted areas yet, this paper presents an approach to detect them based on multispectral satellite data verified by ground truthing. We propose that effectively rewetted areas should minimally include areas with wet grasslands and those covered with water (cf. the IPCC categories “rewetted organic soils” and “flooded lands”). In 2020, these lands amounted in Moscow Region to more than 5.3 and 3.6 thousand hectares, respectively. Assuming that most rewetted areas were former peat extraction sites and using IPCC default GHG emission factors, an overall GHG emission reduction of over 36,000 tCO2-eq year−1 was calculated. We furthermore considered the uncertainty of calculations. With the example of a 1535 ha large rewetted peatland, we illustrate the estimation of GHG emission reductions for the period up to 2050. The approach presented can be used to estimate GHG emission reductions by peatland rewetting on the national, regional, and object level.