Coastal seagrass can store more heat-trapping carbon per square mile (kilmometre) than forests can, which means these coastal plants could be part of the solution to climate change, scientists said in a new study.

Even though seagrasses occupy less than 0.2 percent of the world's oceans, they can hold up to 83,000 metric tons of carbon per square kilometer, a global team of researchers reported Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience.

That is more than twice the 30,000 metric tons of carbon per square kilometer a typical terrestrial forest can store.

Earth's ecosystems keep soaking up more carbon as greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere, new measurements find.

The research contradicts several recent studies suggesting that "carbon sinks" have reached or passed their capacity. By looking at global measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the new work calculates instead that total sinks have increased roughly in line with rising emissions.

Carbon Stored Value: With a forest cover of 72 percent, work is underway in the country, to have in place a mechanism that would help measure the financial value of carbon stored in the forests of Bhutan.

Having a value of the carbon stored in the forest under the UN-Reducing Emission from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) would mean financial incentives for countries like Bhutan, who protect and conserve their forests from deforestation and degradation.

Climate change could reduce the economic value of the services the oceans provide to mankind by almost US$2 trillion a year by 2100, according to a study presented at the Planet Under Pressure conference this week (26—29 March).

The analysis, conducted by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), relates to loss of income from fisheries, tourism, ocean carbon sink, and those related to sea-level rise and storms.

The world is close to reaching tipping points that will make it irreversibly hotter, making this decade critical in efforts to contain global warming, scientists warned on Monday.

Scientific estimates differ but the world's temperature looks set to rise by six degrees Celsius by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are allowed to rise uncontrollably.

As emissions grow, scientists say the world is close to reaching thresholds beyond which the effects on the global climate will be irreversible, such as the melting of polar ice sheets and loss of rainforests.

The country recorded a decrease of 367 square km in forest cover last year, compared with 2009, according to India State of Forest Report 2011, released here on Tuesday.

The forest and tree cover of the country stands at 78.29 million hectare, which is 23.81 per cent of the country's geographical area, said the report. “Compared with the 2009 assessment, after taking into account the interpretational changes, there is a decrease of 367 square km in the country's forest cover,” the report said.