摘要：Land use and its role in reducing greenhouse gases is a key element of policy negotiations
to address climate change. Calculations of the potential for enhanced terrestrial
sequestration have largely focused on the technical characteristics of carbon stocks, such as
vegetation type and management regime, and to some degree, on economic incentives.
However, the actual potential for carbon sequestration critically depends on who owns the
land and additional land management decision drivers. US land ownership patterns are
complex, and consequently land use decision making is driven by a variety of
economic, social and policy incentives. These patterns and incentives make up the
'carbon stewardship landscape'—that is, the decision making context for carbon
sequestration. We examine the carbon stewardship landscape in the US state of
Colorado across several public and private ownership categories. Achieving the full
potential for land use management to help mitigate carbon emissions requires not
only technical feasibility and financial incentives, but also effective implementing
mechanisms within a suite of often conflicting and hard to quantify factors such as
multiple-use mandates, historical precedents, and non-monetary decision drivers.
