In the Czech Republic, a study conducted by Palacký University researchers and others analyzed ow the tropical rain forests on Borneo absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reduces the impact of global warming. They found that the forests can only do this, however, when in good shape, unaffected by human activity, and sufficiently large. Experts point out the alarming fact that tropical forests on Borneo were to a large extent replaced by plantations for production of palm oil.
One of the authors of the study, Radim Hédl from the Department of Botany, said that the study had shown that forest fragmented by logging into small islands gradually loses part of its wood mass, and the previously accumulated carbon is slowly released into the atmosphere again. Long periods of drought, increasingly more frequent during the global climate change, also contribute to this.