Reforestation = plant loads of trees . Simple , right ?
Many climate-minded countries , organisations and charities around the world have been reforesting vast areas of land to try and trap some of that excess atmospheric carbon dioxide . Billions of trees have been planted in recent years and a new global initiative is underway . There are multiple trillion tree campaigns aiming to plant 1.2 trillion trees worldwide within the next ten years . Sounds brilliant , doesn ’ t it ? More trees , more forests , more homes for wildlife , more saving-the-planet projects . But is there a wrong way to plant trees ?
It turns out there might be . We ’ ve been in such a hurry to fix the problem of humancreated climate change that we might have lost sight of the bigger picture .
You mean we can ’ t see the wood for the trees ? Ed
Precisely . Some of those tree-planting projects have focused on planting one specific type of tree over vast areas , but there ’ s nothing biodiverse about single-tree plantations , especially if they are harvested after a few years for furniture , housing , paper or fuel . Single-species plantations , known as monoculture plantations , are definitely not the same as natural forests . And they ’ re no good for carbon retention , because the carbon is soon released when the trees are harvested . There is a need for managed woodland , if we are to continue using trees for timber and paper , but cash crops ( plants planted with the intent to sell them as produce ) cannot replace forests , or help with the carbon problem .
What we need are more multi-species , multi-layered forests that can grow in their own , natural way , with sporadic , chaotic growth , not managed by humans but created by nature . We call this release of human-control over forests rewilding , which has come to mean ‘ letting nature take care of itself ’.
Fourteen-year-old Beshey and his family are cocoa farmers from Gorahun , a small town near the Gola rainforest in Sierra Leone , West Africa . The Gola is a tropical rainforest . It covers nearly 700 km 2 of the land . Forests like this used to cover nearly the whole country but , like so many other rainforests on Earth , they are now at risk from logging , mining and farming .
Beshey and his family are part of a Fair Trade cocoa-farming cooperative called Ngoleagorbu , which means ‘ we who live at the forest edge ’. The cooperative knows that the rainforest plays an important role in the quality of the cocoa and other crops that they grow . The trees provide clean air , nourish the soil and protect their community from floods and drought . The forest also provides them with clean water and cools the climate . However , finding ways to increase their income without harming the rainforest can be tough .
Through a lot of hard work , a respect for the natural world , and with support from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds ( RSPB ), IDH – The Sustainable Trade Initiative and Divine Chocolate , the Ngoleagorbu is doing everything that it can to protect the Gola . They are employing a process called Forest-
Friendly farming , which means they grow their crops organically , don ’ t log or farm in the rainforest and don ’ t go there to fish and hunt . Instead , the cooperative has created a buffer zone of cocoa farms around the forest edge – these help to join up areas of rainforest so that birds and animals can easily travel between them . Working together means the farmers are now managing to protect the rainforest and earn a decent living through fair trade .
You can learn more about Beshey and his family here : https :// golarainforest . film and about his chocolate at : www . divinechocolate . com
Those trillion trees that are going to be planted over the coming years must become part of natural forest environments , where native trees , shrubs , wildflowers , ferns and mosses are left to grow as naturally as possible , where native wildlife can flourish and help regenerate soils and failing ecosystems . You can help reforest the world by rewilding some of your garden and planting native trees for wildlife to enjoy . You ’ ll breathe all the easier for it .
Words : Annalie Seaman . Illustration : Sean Lewis
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