NEWS
“ Planting forests in the wrong place with the wrong species can be devastating for biodiversity , ecosystem services and communities .”
Gillson also points out another danger of afforestation or restoring a site with the incorrect vegetation is the possibility of negative effects on carbon storage and other ecosystem services .
“ If only above-ground carbon is calculated , planting trees can seem like a good option , whereas in fact more carbon is often stored in soils in most ecosystems ( not tropical forests ). The single-minded focus on carbon storage can also neglect other important ecosystem services such as water provision , grazing , and non-timber forest products that are often important to communities and livelihoods .”
Carbon offsetting and planting trees to slow global warming
Deforestation is a huge global concern and most people are aware of the crisis and common deforestation examples such as the Amazon basin . They also understand there is an urgency to act on the climate crisis support for forest restoration as it appears to benefit both biodiversity and climate .
This , Gillson says , is the crux of the treeplanting frenzy , and the very important distinction between restoring forests ( which have been destroyed by people ) and planting new forests is getting lost .
“ Planting forests in the wrong place with the wrong species can be devastating for biodiversity , ecosystem services and communities . Paleoecology offers techniques that can explore past forest extent and composition , but it is currently underutilised in restoration ecology .”
AFR100 challenge which aims to fill 100 million hectares in Africa with trees by 2030 .
“ The risk of potentially damaging the naturally occurring ecosystems is something that is of primary concern to people working within the fynbos and grassland restoration and conservation space because trees get a lot of attention and I think there have been so many ‘ challenges ’ and ‘ pledges ’ with these treeplanting targets that I think people who are working in other types of conservation get nervous that trees are going to be planted all over the place which does not value the indigenous ecosystems that already exist .”
Many companies , especially in the fastfashion industry , have recently pledged to work towards “ carbon neutrality ” through large-scale carbon offsetting projects such as tree-planting initiatives or building wind farms . They include the
Kering Group , the parent company of haute couture brands such as Gucci , Saint Laurent and Bottega .
Gillson says carbon offsetting allows entities that are emitting carbon to buy credits that are used to increase carbon storage elsewhere .
“ For example , when taking a journey by plane , one can often now pay a carbon offset that allows the airline to contribute to a carbon storage project elsewhere .”
While Gauld-Angelucci acknowledges that people can make choices that are more sustainable or less sustainable , she points out that we are living within systems that promote unsustainable behaviour and that carbon offsetting initiatives may be fine as a short-term measure , but not a long-term solution .
“ There are so many things that go into a forest restoration project because a forest does not sit on a little island by itself .”
“ We actually have to take a look at the way our current industries are functioning and see where the changes can be made within those systems . It is not enough to ‘ offset the carbon by planting a tree ’, pat ourselves on the back and continue exploiting people and the Earth for profit – whole industries need to be tackled .
It really is not as simple as , ‘ let ’ s just plant trees everywhere and we ’ re going to solve climate change ’.”
Gillson agrees with Gauld-Angelucci that we need to tackle global heating with everything that we have .
“ Carbon offsetting can be valuable if the carbon projects take account of all ecosystem services and the communities who depend on them , but radical changes are needed in consumption and production patterns if we are to meet global climate change targets ,” she says . “ Carbon offsetting projects must consider biodiversity and ecosystem services , not just carbon storage .”
Gauld-Angelucci adds : “ What I find challenging is that people want a simple solution to what is actually quite a complex process and when they think of a tree being planted , all they think about is the tree and somebody putting it in the ground or a drone dropping a seed .”
It is not that simple .
There are many moving parts involved in the restoration process , including communities , legislation that needs to be addressed and regular monitoring and evaluation to make sure the restoration process is working and sustainable . Gauld-Angelucci says “ quick-fix ” initiatives like tree-planting arise from the oversimplification of the narrative around environmental issues and what can be done about them .
“ The thinking that you can plant a tree anywhere comes from not understanding or misunderstanding the basics of ecology and that specific species belong within specific ecosystems and that planting them outside of their relevant ecosystems can have bad effects ; most people are not aware of this , especially because within our own back gardens there is a culture of picking out whatever you like and just planting it there , in your garden .
“ There are so many things that go into a forest restoration project because a forest does not sit on a little island by itself ; it is part of a broader landscape and it is basically development work and that is complicated and messy and expensive – but it is the most important , impactful work to do .”
25 Grassroots Vol 21 No 4 December 2021