Around the world, forests play a fundamental role in combating or helping to contain climate change. Standing, healthy forests sequester more carbon from the atmosphere than they emit, functioning as a carbon sink; conversely, degraded and deforested areas release their stored carbon back into the atmosphere, becoming a carbon source.
Globally, in net terms, forests are a carbon sink, but there are substantial variations at the local level. Our analysis shows that forests managed by indigenous peoples in the Amazon were strong sinks between 2001 and 2021, collectively removing 340 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere—the equivalent of the United Kingdom's annual fossil fuel emissions.
