New research suggests that the world’s forests play an even more important and complex role than previously thought. In addition to being powerful carbon sinks, they may have a direct effect on global and local temperatures. Forests have an invaluable impact on climate change, even though they are being depleted by global warming. However, a new study highlights their ability to keep the air near and far cool and moist through the way they transform energy and water. This effect was observed in tropical rainforests spanning Latin America, Central Africa and Southeast Asia, particularly those i…