Australia’s tropical rainforests are among the first in the world to start leaking more carbon dioxide than they absorb, scientists said Thursday as they linked the worrying trend to climate change.

The world’s rainforests are typically thought of as crucial “carbon sinks” — sucking huge quantities of planet-heating emissions from the atmosphere.

But new research has found rainforests in Australia’s northern tropics have become net carbon emitters, “the first globally to show this response to climate change”.

“Forests help to curb the worst effects of climate change by absorbing some of the carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels,” said lead author Hannah Carle, from Western Sydney University.

“But our work shows this is under threat.”

The researchers pored through records cha

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