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Actually, rainforests (or any other type of forest) are not a source of net oxygen production.

As vegetation grows it creates oxygen from CO2. The carbon is used to build the plant and the oxygen is released, but, when a plant dies the opposite happens. As it decomposes it produces CO2 and absorbs oxygen as the carbon in the plant recombines with the oxygen. In a mature forest, as rainforests are, the growth and decay are in balance and the net production of oxygen is zero.

As a forest grows carbon accumulates in its plant material, but, as deforestation occurs there is a net loss of plant material and CO2 is released.

The myth that rainforests produce "28% of the world's oxygen" simply is not true.

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15y ago

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