For Noticias this week, I chose to research carbon sequestration in Latin America through an article called, “Carbon Sequestration Potential Second-Growth Forest Regeneration in the Latin American Tropics”. This article was definitely the hardest one I’ve had to analyze so far because it’s more science related so I had to take time to really understand the data collected from the experiments that researchers conducted. Though the article was challenging, I chose to analyze it because it is different from the cultural articles I usually gravitate towards. The content in the article seemingly discussed the effects of Carbon on the environment and the lead causes of global warming. Global Warming has always been a very hot topic, but has become more controversial and relevant recently; I think it is necessary that we discover how these situations are handled and viewed in Latin American countries.

     The article begins by giving a description of the issue. It is commonly accepted that global warming is the result of greenhouse gases such as Carbon Dioxide. Carbon Dioxide tends to be emitted in large amounts through the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities. The authors of the article argue that as a global community we have been approaching the situation incorrectly. Instead of trying to eliminate global warming by preventing deforestation, the authors suggest that we should turn our attention to the concept of reforestation. This idea of second-growth forests (“SFs” in the article) was the driving theme present in the research article because it appears that these forests contain a lot of potential for carbon sequestration. So what exactly is a second-growth forest? Second-growth forests are the regrowth of organisms and populations in a specific land environment after a traumatic destruction of the land (ex: wildfire,   post-cultivation fallows etc.). My understanding is that the benefit of allowing second-growth forests to exist is that these forests accumulate an aboveground carbon (AGC) stock of about 8.48 petagrams of Carbon which is the equivalent of 31.09 petagrams of CO2. As stated by the article, “this total is equivalent from fossil fuel use and industrial processes in all of Latin America and the Caribbean from 1993 to 2014. Ten countries account for 95% of this carbon storage potential, led by Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela”. It is important to realize that though the article argues in favor of the second-growth forests tactic, it does not argue against the idea of limiting deforestation. The article later goes on to explain the experiments and tests that were set up to measure the effect of second-growth forests on the environments in Latin America.

     I think this article portrays Latin America in a positive light. For four Latin American countries to be leading the carbon sequestration attempt out of ten countries total is very impressive. This article shows that Latin America is very concerned with how Carbon Dioxide is affecting the planet that we live on. I think by running these tests and experiments and finding tactics that work, Latin American countries are taking responsibility, or at the very least acknowledging that human activity on earth can be detrimental to our planet. I feel as though these Latin American countries are leading by example in hopes of inspiring the rest of the global community to follow in their footsteps in helping to prevent global warming. This article is less about the cultural identity in Latin America and more about how Latin America interacts in the world. I think that because Latin America is known for its tropical regions and is abundant in its flora and fauna it feels the need to advocate and be proactive about these issues.  

For help understanding this complex article and what exactly was going on in these Latin American countries, I watched this video on Carbon Storage methods that might help you guys as well.