Human activity and climate change-fueled disasters have turned 10 of the planet’s internationally recognized forests, also known as World Heritage sites, from carbon absorbers into carbon emitters, researchers have found. The report from UNESCO found these sites can absorb approximately 190 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year — roughly half the amount of the United Kingdom’s annual fossil fuel emissions.

Since the 1970s, saplings have generally been planted in translucent plastic tubes to protect them from being eaten by browsing animals. However, the research — which analyzed the lifecycle of the plastic and trees — found it was better to lose a certain percentage of saplings than use plastic guards to protect them…

This study quantifies the climate mitigation that could be achieved by avoiding deforestation in seven states across the northeastern US. Forest losses to development, agriculture and other land uses release carbon to the atmosphere, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and associated climate change.

The report by researchers at Clark University, called “Avoided Deforestation: A Climate Mitigation Opportunity in New England and New York,” provides hard numbers for officials trying to hit their climate goals — for instance, Massachusetts’ ambitious plan to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050…

“The United States and other countries can immediately expand investment and support for natural climate solutions that provide the triple benefit of reducing emissions, taking carbon out of the atmosphere, and increasing the resiliency of the natural world…”

Here is something you can share with people who care about this — and let them know what is happening in your region and how it works in partnership with the shift to renewables.

Background: What is a forest carbon offset?

The net increase each year in the amount of carbon stored in the world’s forests and forest products is a critically important sink, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and offsets a meaningful portion of the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions…

“The geologic record makes it clear that global temperatures are intimately linked to changes in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. Today’s CO2 levels are similar to Pliocene estimates (4.5 to 2.588 million years ago)…”

“Reconstructing the evolution of sea level during past warmer epochs such as the Pliocene provides insight into the response of sea level and ice sheets to prolonged warming. Although estimates of the global mean sea level (GMSL) during this time do exist, they vary by several tens of metres, hindering the assessment of past and future ice-sheet stability.”