Tropical trees like these in the Democratic Republic of Congo are sucking up even more carbon than previously thought © Greenpeace/Davison
Amidst the financial crisis and the ever worsening data about the speed with which climate change is occurring, it was a nice change to get some good news last week: trees are getting bigger. And not just any trees, but the rainforest trees which are some of our biggest assets and allies in tackling climate change.
The good news comes from a team of scientists reporting on a 40-year study of African tropical forests which shows that, for at least the last few decades, each hectare of intact African forest has trapped an extra 0.6 tonnes of carbon per year.
Dr Simon Lewis, a Royal Society research fellow at the University of Leeds, and the lead author of the paper says that "we are receiving a free subsidy from nature," because "tropical forest trees are absorbing about 18 per cent of the CO2 added to the atmosphere each year from burning fossil fuels, substantially buffering the rate of climate change".
The research confirms that rainforests act as massive carbon sinks, literally sucking the element out of the air. The Amazon in South America, the Paradise Forests in south east Asia, and the forests of the Congo Basin in central Africa (which was the subject of the study) - they're all providing a massive service to mankind by absorbing carbon dioxide from our factories, power stations and cars.
Dr Lee White, co-author on the study and Gabon's chief climate change scientist, said: "To get an idea of the value of the sink, the removal of nearly 5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by intact tropical forests, based on realistic prices for a tonne of carbon, should be valued at around £13 billion per year. This is a compelling argument for conserving tropical forests."
Unfortunately, at the moment we are not valuing these ancient forests for what they provide. Worldwide, rainforests are still being cut down and degraded at a staggering rate.
But there is reason to be hopeful. The urgent need to protect tropical forests is gaining support, and is likely to be a key part of negotiations leading up to the vital Copenhagen conference on climate change in December. Large sums are needed to ensure that for developing nations, the rainforests are worth more standing than cut down.
My current task here at Greenpeace is to making sure that, come December, the UK negotiators in Denmark are pushing for the best possible deal, and my colleagues in other countries are doing the same with their governments. There are plenty of ideas out there about how this funding system should operate, but not all of them will really succeed in protecting the forests and bringing down global emissions.
The case for forest protection has never been stronger.
David is one of our forest campaigners working on an international funding mechanism to protect forests around the world.
