Edinburgh scientist offers hope on climate change

AN EDINBURGH academic has been involved in scientific reports which reveal climate change may have been slowed by an increase in the growth rate of trees in the Amazon rainforests.

But although the growth rate of trees in pristine rainforests has nearly doubled in recent decades, the death rate of those forests has also accelerated, according to reports in a British scientific journal.

In an issue devoted to tropical rainforests, the Proceedings of the Royal Society carries 17 reports from scientists in many countries, from Britain, Italy and Germany to Brazil, Peru and the United States.

In three of the papers, scientists report that in areas of unspoiled Amazon forest, both the growth rate and the death rate are increasing.

Yadvinder Malhi, of the University of