Did some programming on the Kyoto accord. At the time, old forests were thought to be carbon neutral (e.g. in a steady state), while a growing forest clearly absorbs carbon, and we assumed cut trees were released carbon into the atmosphere.<p>I am curious about the last assumption: Wood products can hang around for quite a while, so while long-term decomposition may release their carbon into the atmosphere, in the short term we have some very old wood around. Hell, maybe we could grow trees and sink them into oxygen-deprived water where they never decay.<p>Ultimately investment in this area has been reduced as the truth could be very inconvenient for the economies that rely on tree farming or land created by deforestation. See the disgraceful yellow blob: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Kyoto_Protocol" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Kyoto_Protocol</a>