Editor’s note: From “climate adaptation” to “blue carbon,” environmental jargon is everywhere these days. Conservation News breaks it down in an occasional series we’re calling “What on Earth?”

In this installment, we explore "natural climate solutions (NCS)," a cost-effective, low-tech approach to stopping climate breakdown.

So what are ‘natural climate solutions’?

Nature is good for our climate: By absorbing and storing carbon from the atmosphere, forests and other high-carbon ecosystems can help to forestall climate change. So any action that conserves, restores or improves the use or management of these ecosystems — while , and this is important, increasing carbon storage and/or avoiding greenhouse gas emissions — can be considered a “natural” climate solution.

And we need them because …

The scientific community overwhelmingly agrees that the climate is in crisis and we’ve got about 10 years to drastically cut our carbon emissions, or humanity will suffer devastating consequences.

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