Ever Green: Saving Big Forests to Save the Planet

Five stunningly large forests remain on Earth: the Taiga, extending from the Pacific Ocean across all of Russia and far-northern Europe; the North American boreal, ranging from Alaska's Bering seacoast to Canada's Atlantic shore; the Amazon, covering almost the entirety of South America's bulge; the Congo, occupying parts of six nations in Africa's wet equatorial middle; and the island forest of New Guinea, twice the size of California.

These mega forests are vital to preserving global biodiversity, thousands of cultures and a stable climate, as economist John W. Reid and celebrated biologist Thomas E. Lovejoy argue convincingly in Ever Green. Mega forests serve an essential role in decarbonising the atmosphere-the boreal alone holds 1.8 trillion metric tons of carbon in its deep soils and peat layers, 190 years' worth of global emissions at 2019 levels-and saving them is the most immediate and affordable large-scale solution to our planet's most formidable ongoing crisis.

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