Italian forests increase in size, CO2 absorption capacity

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 29 - Italian forests have increases in size and their capacity to absorb CO2, a report out Wednesday said.
    In the last 10 years, said the Carabinieri's national inventory on forest carbon reservoirs, the national wooded surface area has risen by around 587,000 hectares to a total of some 11 million hectares.
    The forest biomass is up 18.4% in that time, the report said.
    This has enabled Italian woods and forests to absorb 290 million more tonnes of CO2.
    The report, complied with the help of environmental group CREA, was said to be a "green thermometer" able to gauge the state of vitality of Italian forests and their contribution to bringing down the planet's fever from the climate crisis.
    Woods cover some 36.7% of Italian territory, the survey said.
    The number of cubic metres of biomass per hectare has risen from 144.9 to 165.4 since 2011, the report said.
    The amount of CO2 absorbed from the atmosphere has gone from 1.789 million tonnes to 2.088 million, it said.
    That corresponds to 569 million tonnes of CO2 trapped in biomass and dead wood.
    "Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas most responsible for the global rise in temperatures and forests play an essential role in protecting natural and global environmental equilibria," said the Carabinieri forest rangers.. (ANSA).