Wednesday, February 11, 2009
About those Rainforests
I guess some would consider this an "inconvenient" development...
Elisabeth Rosenthal reports in the International Herald Tribune:
"About 15 million hectares of original rain forest are being cut down every year, but in 2005, according to the most recent State of the World's Forests Report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, there were an estimated 850 million hectares of potential replacement forest growing in the tropics - an area almost as large as the United States.
Globally, one-fifth of the world's carbon emissions come from the destruction of rain forests, scientists say. It is unknown how much of that is being canceled out by forest that is in the process of regrowth. It is a crucial but scientifically controversial question, the answer to which may depend on where and when the forests are growing."
