At
this rate of discount, the carbon sequestered in
plantation biomass must be adjusted by a factor of
15.4/19.9=0.775 to obtain the equivalent in fossil
fuel carbon at the same rate of discount. This
equivalence has been used to express all values in
metric tons of carbon equivalent to instan-
taneous avoidance of fossil fuel emission. The
equivalence used does not take into account the
natural removal of CO2 from the atmosphere;
however, this factor would be unlikely to substantially alter the relative bene®ts of plantation
silviculture versus deforestation avoidance.