Less than half of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions remain in the atmosphere. While carbon balance models imply large carbon uptake in tropical forests, direct on-the-ground observations are still lacking in Southeast Asia. Here, using long-term plot monitoring records of up to half a century, we find that intact forests in Borneo gained 0.43 Mg C ha-1 per year (95% CI 0.14-0.72, mean period 1988-2010) above-ground live biomass. These results closely match those from African and Amazonian plot networks, suggesting that the world's remaining intact tropical forests are now en masse out-of-equilibrium. Although both pan-tropical and long-term, the sink in remaining intact forests appears vulnerable to climate and land use changes. Across Borneo the 1997-1998 El Niño drought temporarily halted the carbon sink by increasing tree mortality, while fragmentation persistently offset the sink and turned many edge-affected forests into a carbon source to the atmosphere.

Agriculture Faculty of Tadulako University Jln Soekarno Hatta km 09 Tondo 94118 Indonesia

Asian School of the Environment Nanyang Technological University 50 Nanyang Avenue Singapore 639798 Singapore

Balitek KSDA Research Development and Innovation Agency Ministry of Environment and Forestry Jl Soekarno Hatta KM 38 RT 09 Samboja Indonesia

Bioclimate Thorn House 5 Rose Street Edinburgh EH2 2PR UK

Biology Department Boston University 5 Cummington Mall Boston MA 02215 USA

Carboforexpert Hermance 1248 Switzerland

Center for International Forestry Research Jl CIFOR Situ Gede Bogor 16115 Indonesia

Center for Tropical Forest Science Forest Global Earth Observatory Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Washington DC 20013 USA

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Penicuik EH26 0QB UK

CTFS ForestGEO Program Lambir Miri 98000 Sarawak Malaysia

Deltares Boussinesqweg 1 2629 HV Delft The Netherlands

Department of Animal Science and Food Processing Faculty of Tropical Agrisciences Czech University of Life Sciences Kamýcká 129 165 00 Praha 6 Suchdol Prague Czech Republic

Department of Botany Faculty of Science Palacký University in Olomouc Šlechtitelů 27 CZ 78371 Olomouc Czech Republic

Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences Faculty of Science Palacký University in Olomouc Šlechtitelů 27 CZ 78371 Olomouc Czech Republic

Department of Forest Botany Dendrology and Geobiocoenology Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology Mendel University in Brno Zemedelska 3 613 00 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Geography University College London London WC1E 6BT UK

Department of Life Sciences Imperial College London Silwood Park Campus Ascot SL5 7PY UK

Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Harvard University 22 Divinity Avenue Cambridge MA 02138 USA

Department of Vegetation Ecology Institute of Botany The Czech Academy of Sciences Lidicka 25 27 CZ 60200 Brno Czech Republic

Environmental and Life Sciences Programme Faculty of Science Universiti Brunei Darussalam Jalan Tungku Link Gadong BE1410 Brunei Darussalam

Environmental Change Institute School of Geography and the Environment University of Oxford Oxford OX1 3QY UK

Faculty of Forestry Mulawarman University Jl Pasir Balengkong 75123 Samarinda Indonesia

Forest Research and Development Center Research Development and Innovation Agency Ministry of Environment and Forestry Jl Gunung Batu No 5 Bogor 16610 Indonesia

Forests and Societies Research Unit CIRAD Univ Montpellier Campus International de Baillarguet TA C 105 D 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5 France

Graduate School of Agriculture Kyoto University Kyoto 606 8502 Japan

Graduate School of Science and Engineering Kagoshima University 890 0065 Kagoshima Japan

Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics University of Amsterdam 1012 WX Amsterdam The Netherlands

Instituto de Investigaciones Agrobiológicas de Galicia Santiago de Compostela 15705 Spain

International Tropical Forestry Faculty of Science and Natural Resources Universiti Malaysia Sabah Jl UMS 88400 Kota Kinabalu Malaysia

Laboratory for wood Biology and Xylarium Royal Museum for Central Africa Leuvensesteenweg 13 3080 Tervuren Belgium

Pan Eco SOCP Jl Wahid Hasyim No 51 74 Medan 20154 Indonesia

Pro Natura Foundation Jl Jend Sudirman No 37 Balikpapan 76112 Indonesia

Research Center for Biology Indonesian Institute of Sciences Jl Raya Jakarta Bogor KM 46 Cibinong 16911 Indonesia

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Edinburgh EH3 5LR UK

Sabah Forestry Department Forest Research Centre Mile 14 Jl Sepilok 90000 Sandakan Malaysia

School of Biological Sciences University of Aberdeen Cruickshank Building St Machar Drive Aberdeen AB24 3UU UK

School of Biology University of Leeds Leeds LS2 9JT UK

School of Environmental and Marine Science James Cook University 1 James Cook Dr Townsville City QLD 4811 Australia

School of Geography University of Leeds Leeds LS2 9JT UK

School of Science and the Environment Manchester Metropolitan University Chester Street Manchester M1 5GD UK

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Balboa Ancon 03092 Panama

Sungai Wain Protected Forest Management Unit KM 23 Kel Karang Joang Balikpapan 76101 Indonesia

Tropical Peat Research Institute Biological Research Division Malaysian Palm Oil Board Bandar Baru Bangi 43000 Kajang Malaysia

Universidade Estadual de Campinas Campinas 13083 970 Brazil

Ústí nad Labem Zoo Drážďanská 23 400 07 Ústí nad Labem Czech Republic

Utrecht University Domplein 29 3512 JE Utrecht The Netherlands

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Nat Commun. 2018 Jan 19;9(1):342. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02920-x. PubMed

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