Tropical rain forest can fight climate change better than biofuel plantations

A new study has determined that keeping tropical rain forests intact is a better way to combat climate change than replacing them with biofuel plantations. planting biofuels on degraded Imperata grasslands instead of tropical rain forests would lead to a net removal of carbon in 10 years, the researchers found. Conserving the existing forests is not only good for the climate as the emissions of greenhouse gases are reduced, but also generates additional benefits, such as biodiversity protection, said Dr. Daniel Murdiyarso of the Indonesia-based Centre for International Forestry (CIFOR). Biofuels have been touted as an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels, one of the major contributors to global warming.