『Abstract
　Wetland forests, known as coal forests, extended over large areas of the palaeotropics during the late Carboniferous and the Permian Periods. They were initiated during the Serpukhovian Age as a response to lowering sea levels having exposed large areas of continental shelf. They expanded dramatically during the late Bashkirian Age, but then contracted by over one-half during the Kasimovian Age. The estimated loss of carbon sink probably resulted in an annual increase in atmospheric CO2 of about 2-5 ppm, and coincided with clear evidence of global warming in both the northern and southern high latitudes. A return to cooler conditions in very Early Permian times coincided with an expansion of the palaeotropical coal forests in the Far East, but this was short-lived and most of the rest of the Permian was a time of global warming. The Palaeozoic evidence clearly confirms that there is a correlation between levels of atmospheric CO2 and global climates. However, care must be taken in extrapolating this evidence to the present-day tropical forests, which do not act as a comparable unsaturated carbon sink.』

Introduction
The palaeotropical coal forests as a carbon sink
The distribution of the palaeotropical coal forests
Chronology of late Palaeozoic tropical forestation
　Serpukhovian-Early Bashkirian ages
　Late Bshkirian Age
　Moscovian Age
　Kasimovian-Gzhelian ages
　Early Permian
　Middle and Late Permian
What controlled the extent of the palaeotropical coal forests?
Chronology of Permo-Carboniferous glaciation
Climate change in the northern high latitudes
Relationship between the palaeotropic coal forests and global climate change
　Mid-Carboniferous global cooling
　Kasimovian-Gzhelian interglacial
　Early Permian global cooling
Is the past the key the present?
Acknowledgements
References