NEWS
Building back nature is more complicated than just planting trees
The UN officially launched the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration programme , but planting trees anywhere and everywhere is not a silver bullet to combat climate change .
Catherine Del Monte
J ust two months before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change ( IPCC )
report issued a “ code red for humanity ” in August , the United Nations Environment Programme in collaboration with the UN ’ s Food and Agriculture Organisation launched the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (
UN Decade ).
The UN Decade is a global call to action that runs from 2021 to 2030 and which , according to the UN , is the timeframe scientists recognise “ as humanity ’ s last chance to prevent catastrophic climate change ” and essentially gives society just shy of a decade to revive and restore what is left of Earth ’ s ecosystems .
During the
virtual launch gala of the UN Decade , UN Secretary-General António Guterres ’ s opening remarks were sobering :
“ We are rapidly reaching the point of no return for the planet . We face a triple environmental emergency : biodiversity loss , climate disruption , and escalating pollution . For too long , humanity has cut down the Earth ’ s forests , polluted its rivers and oceans and ploughed its grasslands into oblivion .
“ We are ravaging the very ecosystems that underpin our societies and in doing so , we risk depriving ourselves of the food , water and resources we need to survive .”
Restoring the planet ’ s ecosystems is so urgent that the UN talks of a
mass extinction if we fail to act within the next 10 years .
But effective ecosystem restoration is complex developmental work that is not as simple as planting a tree here and there . In fact , the risks of tree-only campaigning to ecosystem restoration are manifold .
Emeritus professor of biological sciences at the University of Cape Town William Bond is one of the
lead authors in new research busting the myth that planting trees everywhere is the silver bullet to slowing global warming and explains why we need areas like open grasslands in the savannas .
“ What many don ’ t realise is that grasslands store carbon in their soils and reflect more sunlight back into space than forests , playing a very important part in cooling the earth .”
“ I am trying to champion non-forested parts of the world , ‘ open ecosystems ’, which are threatened by global plans to plant trees , millions of hectares of them , with Africa particularly targeted . I see this as a major threat to Africa since our sun-loving fauna and flora can be rapidly exterminated by shade of , typically , conifer and eucalypt plantations ,” says Bond .
Africa contains more grasses than any other continent . According to the South African
National Biodiversity Institute , covering 46 % of its area , the savanna is the biggest biome in southern Africa .
Bond explains that savannas are characterised by grasslands – an open habitat peppered with a handful of trees – and that in a healthy grassland ecosystem there is a very delicate balance between trees and grasses that needs to be maintained for the diversity of animal species that it supports to survive and thrive .
Tree-planting plans to offset carbon threaten the ancient grasslands and everything it supports , he adds .
“ What many don ’ t realise is that grasslands store carbon in their soils and reflect more sunlight back into space than forests , playing a very important part in cooling the Earth .”
Grasslands are millions of years old and Bond cautions ecosystem restoration projects to question whether the trees are restoring previously forested areas or whether they are destroying an ancient grassland and existing ecosystem .
Ecosystem restoration is an intricate process that takes time .
Grassroots Vol 21 No 4 December 2021 20