Forests play a major role in fighting climate change

Regeneration trail: A farmer harvests berries from an acaí palm tree in the Amazon forest in Brazil. More diverse forests are often better at capturing carbon because they are more resilient to natural disasters, pests and diseases. — AFP

NEW YORK: Restoring and protecting forests has the potential to store the equivalent of the annual carbon emissions of 50,000 coal fired-plants, according to a new study.

Forests can play a central role in helping mitigate climate change, owing to their ability to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it.