Final answer:
The tropical regions, especially the humid tropics, present the highest potential for forest carbon loss globally due to extensive deforestation for agriculture, urbanization, and logging, alongside climate change impacts.
Step-by-step explanation:
The latitudinal zone that has the most potential for loss of forest carbon globally is the tropical regions, particularly the humid tropics. The primary reasons for this include high rates of deforestation resulting from agricultural land clearing, urbanization, and timber extraction. These regions possess significant carbon stocks due to their abundance of biomass and rich biodiversity. However, with nearly two-thirds of tropical deforestation being attributed to farmers clearing land for agriculture, and considering that illegal logging, slash and burn practices, and large-scaled land alteration for palm oil plantations take place intensively in these areas, the potential for significant loss of forest carbon is tremendously high. Climate change exacerbates these issues, as higher temperatures and changing precipitation patterns can lead to further forest degradation. Illegal activities like slash and burn in places like Madagascar, unsustainable timber extraction in Southeast Asia and Africa, and major deforestation projects in Brazil's Amazon contribute greatly to this loss of carbon.