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26

Tundra

Boreal forest

Temperate forest

Temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands

Desert and dry shrublands

Tropical and subtropical forests

Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas and shrublands

Source: adapted from Olson et al., 2001.

Tropical forests hold the largest terrestrial carbon store and are active carbon sinks. Re-

ducing emissions from deforestation and degradation is a vital component of tackling

dangerous climate change. In addition, tackling illegal and ill-managed logging will be

an important part of reducing emissions from forestry.

Tropical forests occupy large areas of central and northern

South America, western Africa, South-East Asia and north-

eastern Australia. Most tropical forests are moist forests,

found in areas where annual rainfall normally exceeds 2000

mm per year and is relatively evenly distributed. Such forests

have extremely high levels of plant, mammal, insect, and bird

diversity and are considered to host the greatest biodiversity of

all the Earth’s biomes.

The warm and wet climate of tropical moist forests results

in rapid plant growth and most of the carbon can be found

in the vegetation, with biomass estimates of 170–250 t C

per ha (Malhi

et al.

2006; Chave

et al.

2008; Lewis

et al.

2009). Tropical moist forests can vary considerably in their

carbon stocks depending on the abundance of the large,

densely wooded species that store the most carbon (Baker

et al.

2004). On average, they are estimated to store around

160 tonnes per hectare in the above-ground vegetation

and around 40 tonnes per hectare in the roots. Soil carbon

stocks are estimated by Amundson (2001) at around 90-

200 tonnes per hectare, and are thus somewhat lower than

biomass stocks.

TROPICAL FORESTS