Patagonia bigger carbon sink than Amazon
The 17 parks that make up Chile's “Route of Parks of Patagonia” are a richer carbon sink than even the Amazon rainforest – oft referred to as the “lungs of the planet” because of its capacity to absorb carbon dioxide, so says a study released in October by the National Geographic Society which said that the colder temperatures in the Patagonia region cause the decomposition processes of organic matter to occur at a slower rate. Says Ingrid Espinoza, conservation director at Tompkins Conservation Chile: “The data indicates that, on average, each hectare of the Route of Parks stores 558 tons of carbon. If we compare this figure with other studies, it can be concluded that the Route of Parks stores almost 3 times more carbon per hectare than the forests of the Amazon, taking into account the biomass and soil of the forests.” With that kind of data, the argument for conserving Patagonia also just got hotter quick.