Oerbossen belangrijke opslagplaats CO2

"Old-growth forest might store far more carbon than previously thought, making their preservation a higher priority in carbon trading and other efforts to tackle global warming. Classified as forests at least 100 years old, old-growth forests are widespread in tropical and subtropical developing countries. Until now, they were not thought to absorb and store significant amounts of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

In a study published in Science this week, however, scientists show that a 400-year-old forest in southern China is soaking up carbon from the atmosphere considerably faster than expected.

Knowing this, developing countries with abundant old-growth forest cover could ask rich countries for compensation through the global carbon trade, said team leader Guoyi Zhou.The finding could also help reduce deforestation in the developing world, added Zhou, from the Guangdong Province-based Dinghushan Forest Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences."

Bron: www.scidev.net