A recent study by a group of seven international scientists showed that replacing tropical forestland by biofuel plantations reduces biodiversity, and is not a good option to mitigate climate change. The study (published in the journal, Conservation Biology) explored the impacts of the spread of oil palm plantations (arising from cleared tropical rain forests) on greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity. Vegetation in forest lands contribute to climate change mitigation, by capturing carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) from the atmosphere. Clearing these forest lands for bioenergy crop plantations inevitably results in a net loss of “carbon capture capability”. According to the study, the loss of carbon capture capability (from replacing these forest lands with biofuel farms) does not balance well with the savings in carbon emissions resulting from biofuel use. It would take “between 75 and 93 years for the carbon emissions saved through use of biofuel to compensate for the carbon lost through forest conversion”. Biofuel plantations from converted forest land were also found to “support species-poor communities containing few forest species”. As countries strive to meet international commitments to reduce carbon emissions, the conversion of forest lands for biofuel plantations could actually hasten climate change. The study concludes that forest conservation, rather than conversion to biofuel farms, would be a better option for climate-change mitigation..