A team of scientists from the Carnegie Institution for Science's Department of Global Ecology and the USDA Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW) has developed new, more accurate methods for mapping carbon in Hawaii's forests.  The team estimated a total of 28.3 million tons of carbon sequestered in above ground woody vegetation on the island, which is 56 percent lower than estimates by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that were not intended to resolve carbon variation at fine spatial scales. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110314172329.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110304091504.htm
     According to this recent article, the export of Brazilian beef indirectly leads to deforestation in the Amazon.  This beef has been calculated as causing zero emissions from deforestation, but has been causing emissions from their digestion and feed production.  Beef from deforested areas account for only 6% of beef production, but this 6% causes about 25 times more carbon dioxide emissions then beef produced in the rest of Brazil.  Carbon dioxide emissions with deforestation are are accountable for 10% of all emissions globally.

http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/FieldCourses00/PapersCostaRicaArticles/Final.MethodsandEffectsof.html
This article explains the different methods of rainforest destruction and the effects of it.  Some of the effects it speaks about are higher albedo, climate changes, changing the hydrological system, and greenhouse gases.  Rainforests are very important to our planet and are being destroyed at a very hight rate.  The destruction of rainforests could eventually cause some huge problems for our planet.