Over-hunting threatens Amazonian forest carbon stocks
Monday, January 25, 2016 - 22:11
in Earth & Climate
Over-hunting large mammals in tropical forests could make climate change worse. Tropical forests worldwide store more than 460 billion tonnes of carbon. Researchers studied the impact of over-hunting on carbon storage across the Amazon -- the largest forest on Earth. They found that impact could be huge: a projected 313 billion kilograms of carbon not being absorbed. The economic value of such a loss in global carbon markets could cost US$13.7 trillion.