Unmitigated Disasters: Why Celebrated Tree Planting Projects Fail

 

Image by Drukpa Publications Pvt. Ltd., CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

 Fred Pearce wrote an excellent article published at the Yale School of the Environment pointing out "High-profile initiatives to plant millions of trees are being touted by governments around the world as major contributions to fighting climate change. But scientists say many of these projects are ill-conceived and poorly managed and often fail to grow any forests at all."

Two named examples - in the Philippines and India - demonstrated the disastrous results. Researchers found little evidence that government-led, taxpayer-funded projects "resulted in more tree cover, carbon uptake, or community benefits." In other words, they were wastes of money, productive time and energy.

Pearce quotes Lalisa Duguma of World Agroforestry, "an international research agency" in Africa and comments. "Every year, 'millions of dollars' are spent on reforesting landscape. Yet 'there are few success stories.' Typically only a minority of seedlings survive, he says, because the wrong trees are planted in the wrong places, and many are left untended, in part because ownership and management of trees is not handed over to local communities."

"Too often, argues Duguma, tree planting is 'greenwashing' aimed at grabbing headlines and promoting an image of governments or corporations as environmentally friendly. Tiina Vahanen, deputy director of forestry at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, noted recently that many projects end up being little more than 'promotional events, with no follow-up action.'"

Pearce also exposes the "carbon credit" scheme. Large corporations buy carbon credits purported to be offset by the "carbon capture" of forests, so the entities don't actually have to reduce their own carbon emissions.

Is there a better method of reforestation? Yes, there is. "Forest ecologists say creating space to allow nature to do its thing is usually a better approach to restoring forests than planting." Imagine that. Nature itself, if left alone, might do a better job.

It's a fascinating article. Read the whole thing HERE.

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