I wonder if there is some cash crop that can be grown in those areas that would absorb co2 as effectively as forest, or at least as near as possible. That could be a win-win situation. How about it? Any "real" farmers in here? Considering the soil quality of most forests, this might not be feasible.
the "rainforests" are not a single thing nor are they easily defined except by their HUGE annual rainfall. when people think of "rainforests" they assume tropical jungles, but this is not the case at all. theres even a "rainforest" in alaska. (
http://acrc.alaska.edu/)
when ever your dealing with 70-80 inches of rain a year you get two natural choices
Rainforests:
characterized by HUGE trees and often a 2-3 layer canopy making the forest floor dark as fuck and the ground eternally damp. the massive trees (like redwoods) store huge ammounts of "carbon" inside their living structures and this is released after the tree dies by biological action from fungi or bacteria, or rapidly by burning. using that wood dto construct something durable of course takes that "Carbon" out f the cycle for the duration,, just like plastics do, but no matter how you slice it, "rainforests" are not really "carbon sinks" unless they are expanding. standing rainforests are at best "carbon cyclers" with fungi eating dead plant material and plants getting bigger by eating that CO2.
Swamps:
swamps bayous, and the PC "wetlands" produce co2 and methane, they dont store it. swamps are pretty much just "rainforests" without the forests, their bology depending mostly on algae bacterium and fungi, not plants which "store carbon"
neither of these two terrains can be converted into croplandseasily, and unless you do it right, the massive rainfall will drown your crops and erode the soil. in the higher elevations of the "rainforest" (where it's not really a rainforest any more) shade grown coffee is a fine example of jungles becoming agricultural lands, and eventually the natural jungle trees can be eliminated as the mango, avocado and papaya trees get big enough to shade the coffee trees. rice crops can displace swamp "ecosystems" quite handily, but the rice market worldwide makes rice a largely subsistence crop with little in the way of profits for smallholders.
the "deforestation" claims of the 80's and 90's were based on a faulty premise,, the 'deforestation" images and videos were actually images of people clearing room for towns to exploit the gold fields in the amazon basin, not clearance of agricultural land. yall got lied to.
most jungle's-edge farmers live in the highlands, and still fight a seasonal battle with encroaching forests. few have the resources to expand, as just keeping the jungle back has proved quite the job already. trying to tame the deep basin jungles of the amazon is a pipedream crafted by the fainforest action network and other envirowacko gangs who will lie to you first, and slowly bring forth the truth as a last resort.
as to the fertility of forest soil, it's often extremely rich, but all the goodness washes away fast under 70-80 inches of rain if the forest isnt keeping the freshness in. replacing forest with cropland isnt easy, and it's hard as a mofo if you want that cropland to produce. grasslands are usually much easier to convert to farm, plus theyre often flat already so thats a plus.
we already have a working model of how smallholders can turn forests (even jungles) into farms without destroying the forests as a whole, and thats the beaver dam meadow. it's not economically feasible, and it;s not profitable, and it certainly isnt fast but it works.
replacing the 2nd tier canopy with shade loving crop trees like coffee, cocoa, and even coca is the only really workable plan available now to allow impoverished tropical jungle dwellers an economic alternative
it's a complex problem, but my personal favorite option is small patch clearing of the undergrowth and 2nd tier canopy, and growing coca cannabis or coffee. all three have proven track records as cash crops that dont require removal of the forest canopy before the soil is already secured by established plants.
