Photo: Swansea University | BBC
Unknown until 2018, the Amazon's tallest trees are up to 500 years old. They are almost as high as the Big Ben tower. An airborne survey using laser technology estimated stored carbon levels and found that 52 trees that measured over 70 meters. Six reached above 80 meters. But it wasn't until last Christmas that the team could set off on foot to see the giant trees themselves. "It's humbling to stand beneath the giant tree that started life centuries before our time, and which should long outlive us, continuing to protect us by helping to regulate our climate," said Jackie Rosette of Swansea University. "The Amazon rainforest holds around 17% of the world's carbon, and these giants hold around 60-70% of all the carbon in their region, so to lose them would have a devastating impact on climate change." The Brazilian government in Amap state agreed to use the research results as evidence to afford the giants Protected Monument status.
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