Unbalanced Carbon Cycle

Importance:

• Coral reef structures buffer shorelines against waves, storms, floods - helps to prevent damage to housing and erosion
• Provide tourism opportunities - e.g. snorkelling
• Destruction of them would affect LICs and NICs - e.g. millions of people live in US coastal areas

Tourism and climate change:

• Sea level rise will affect coastal tourism infrastructure
  
• Climate change will lead to changes in biodiversity (migration of species away, coral bleaching) - will affect eco-tourism
• Increased stormy weather will discourage people from going on holiday

• 1950 - 11.6 million hectares of rainforest
• 1985 - 3.8 million hectares of rainforest

Deforestation has a major impact on terrestrial carbon stores

- The rivers Sofia and Betsiboka have turned red due to soil erosion. More than 400 tonnes per hectare per year of loose soil are being washed into these rivers

- The grassland being converted to meet US Environmental Protection Agency's renewable fuel standard policy

• Increasing use of ethanol in petrol
• Boosting the economies of rural US states
• Reducing international dependence
• Reducing CO2 emissions

- Over 5.5 million hectares have disappeared, impacting on the wildlife