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Although the Fortuna Forest Reserve measures 50,000 times less than the entire North American country, its number of tree species is very similar. For this reason, scientists analyze what the most cloudy forest in Central America has that makes it so diverse.
The planet is facing a triple crisis: global warming, pollution and the loss of biodiversity. And despite the fact that the situations in each of these areas are increasingly serious, there are some encouraging examples.
One of these is in Panama. The Fortuna Forest, located in Chiriquí, has 891 species of trees. A fairly similar number to the 950 species that exist throughout the United States, as noted by Jim Dalling, a research associate at the Smithsonian Institute for Tropical Research. on the official page of the organization.
The difference is that the great diversity occurs in a space 50,000 times smaller, since it is in 19,500 hectares. For this reason, the Smithsonian Institution studies this soil. “What makes Fortuna unique is that Fortuna is a forest near a volcano, the Barú volcano, so all the formation or mineralogy of these forests is different from what we have around the Panama Canal basin and the same forest. visually it is different”, explained the researcher Dayana Agudo to Óscar Sulbarán, the correspondent for France 24 in the Central American country.
An additional factor that contributes to this great diversity is the extreme variation of the climate, since the reserve goes from 820 meters above sea level to 2,238 meters above sea level.
Another aspect that characterizes it is the amount of carbon dioxide it traps. The forest reserve absorbs 10 million tons of CO2 per year, which is almost the same as that produced by the entire country, according to World Bank data. According to what was studied by the institute, 60% of this polluting gas is on the ground and the other 40% is in living trees and those that are decomposing.
Plastic can also be produced from cassava or cassava
This tuber that is so well known in the kitchens of South America not only serves as a food. In fact, from cassava or cassava or guacamote polymers can also be extracted that are essential to make plastics.
Mónica Trujillo, a researcher at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), explained to France 24 that the starch from the tuber is used to obtain thermoplastic biopolymers and films. In fact, the SEI and the University of Cauca are already working to supply single-use plastics that come from cassava.
This would help decrease the amount of polymers that arise from fossil fuels such as oil and gas. However, bioplastics only account for 1% of all plastics in the world, according to data from the European Bioplastics obtained by the SEI.
The new buildings in New York will not have gas
This will be the first state in the United States to ban natural gas in buildings built after 2026 that have more than seven stories. The hydrocarbons industry opposed it and other sectors view it with skepticism; as explained by the correspondent for France 24 in New York, Mamen Sal, when speaking with Álex Carini, the CEO of Carini Group Real Estate.
For their part, environmental groups see it as a necessary step, but warn that Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan leaves loopholes that would allow local governments to bypass the measure.
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