Should

Running Head : Carbon Sinks and Emissions Trading

Name

University

Course

Tutor

Date

A carbon sink is a reservoir of carbon that collects and for an indefinite period stores carbon . There are different forms of carbon sinks with the main ones being plants and algae photosynthesis and absorption of carbon dioxide by the ocean . In essence , the forests ocean , soils as well as the atmosphere stores carbon which cycle among these various stores over time . As opposed to sources which emit more carbon than they store , sinks stores more

carbon than they emit . In this regard , a carbon source can act as a carbon sink at different times . For example , a forest can be seen as a carbon source as well as a carbon sink though this is largely dependent on time in the sense that plants absorbs carbon dioxide at daytime and emit it back to the atmosphere during the night . Still forests fires as well as deforestation releases back the carbon dioxide absorbed by the forests back to the atmosphere (Freeman , 2007 , pp .74

The concept of carbon sinks is largely based on the natural ability of the ocean , soil , forests and other kinds of plants to temporarily store carbon in the woods , soil and leaves after soaking it from the atmosphere . The process through which the various carbon sinks remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is known as carbon sequestration

In the context of carbon sinks , the soil is seen as largely representing short term and long term...