In Wired's Big Questions package, Richard Preston wrote about how scientists aren't really sure what role the world's forests will play in global warming. They might help slow down the planet's heating, or they might—through their destruction due to elevated CO2 levels—greatly speed it up. We don't know because we simply haven't studied forest ecosystems enough to know how they will react to CO2 jumps in the atmosphere.
Luckily, other people are starting to recognize the problem. Today the International Bankers over at HSBC awarded an $8 million dollar grant to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in panama—the largest donation the institute has ever received. Recently the institute also received $3 and $5 million grants from other sources. These investments will help fund 20 studies in 15 countries looking at 3 million trees. One of the key things scientists plan to look at is the effect of increasing atmospheric carbon on our forests. Perhaps we're one step closer to answering another big question.
