Carbon Trade-Offs Along Tropical Forest Margins

Changes in forest and tree cover can lead to rapid and substantial carbon emissions. Currently, about 7.3 million ha of forests are lost annually, releasing an estimated 5.8 gigatons of carbon dioxide (Gt CO₂) per year into the atmosphere. This represents 12–17% of human-generated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. On the other hand, forests have the capacity to act as sinks (the ability to absorb and hold CO₂ for long periods). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Assessment report puts the total potential for avoiding carbon emissions through aggressive forestry practice changes on 700 million ha of forest at about 60–80 billion tons, or about 12–25% of current fossil fuel emissions over a period of 50 years.