What is the significance of the plants’ carbon-dioxide binding ability? Why are plants important for the mitigation of climate change?

Plants and algae bind carbon-dioxide from the air to build their cells’ organic materials. Algae have almost unlimited access to carbon-dioxide, dissolved into the water from the air. The carbon bound in this process is the foundation of the food web; the consumption and reconstruction of this carbon feeds the algae, herbivores and the carnivores preying on them. Most of the bound carbon-dioxide is re-released into the water or air during the respiration process of the cells. What matters, though, is what happens with this carbon after the decay of these living beings: carbon can be reabsorbed into the water column or the sediment, but in some cases it can be bound in the organic elements of the soil - reducing the carbon-dioxide content of the air, in the end. This process is key to moderating climate change: the preservation of natural habitats is the most effective way of demobilizing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere known to man. In the temperate climate zone, Wetlands are among the most powerful habitats for binding large amounts of carbon-dioxide. However this only works if the soil and vegetation cover is left undisturbed for decades or centuries. For this reason, the reeds of Great-Berek and the Tapolca Basin play a major role in mitigating climate change, so long as they are left undisturbed.