Limited time and resources remain to constrain the climate crisis. Natural climate solutions represent promising options to protect, manage and restore natural lands for additional climate mitigation, but they differ in (1) the magnitude and (2) immediacy of mitigation potential, as well as (3) cost-effectiveness and (4) the co-benefits they offer. Counter to an emerging preference for restoration, we use these four criteria to propose a general rule of thumb to protect, manage and then restore lands, but also show how these criteria explain alternative prioritization and portfolio schemes. This hierarchy offers a decision-making framework for public and private sector actors to optimize the effectiveness of natural climate solutions in an environment in which resources are constrained, and time is short.

限制气候危机的时间和资源仍然有限。自然气候解决方案代表了保护、管理和恢复自然土地以进一步缓解气候变化的有希望的选择，但它们在 (1) 缓解潜力的规模和 (2) 即时性，以及 (3) 成本效益和 (4)他们提供的共同利益。与新出现的恢复偏好相反，我们使用这四个标准提出了保护、管理和恢复土地的一般经验法则，但也展示了这些标准如何解释替代优先级和投资组合方案。该层次结构为公共和私营部门参与者提供了一个决策框架，以在资源受限且时间紧迫的环境中优化自然气候解决方案的有效性。