Tree planting is one. This is one of the most popular solutions for the climate crisis. Trees have the ability to store carbon dioxide in their soil and prevent its release into our atmosphere. They may not be the solution-all we desire, however.
The tree-planting trend is now evident in initiatives such as the Trillion Trees CampaignOr the Bonn ChallengeThe aims to reforest 350 millions hectares deforested land by 2030. New research indicates that the WayWe can determine whether reforestation efforts help or harm an ecosystem by planting trees.
What’s new In an analysis published Thursday by the journal ScienceResearchers have shown that restoring native forests rich in diverse, indigenous plant life can help conserve soil and water as well as provide other environmental benefits. However, a large number of trees may only be beneficial to the industry that wants to extract the timber they produce. These monoculture tree plantations focus on creating large areas of forest from a single species of tree, such as pine or Eucalyptus.
Researchers compared vital statistics from hundreds of monoculture tree plantations with those of restored and native forests. They compared the ecosystem services provided by each type of forest, including climate, soil erosion and water yields.
This study is the first time that different forest restoration strategies have been compared. […]has been evaluated simultaneously, lead author Fangyuan HuaPeking University’s Institute of Ecology assistant professor, tells us Inverse.
With the exception of one, tree plantations did not perform well in all other services. These monocultures didn’t support as much biodiversity as either restored or native forests. Additionally, they had worse species abundance, which is the number of individuals within a species.
The researchers reviewed more than 250 studies that examined monocultures and native forests from 53 countries. Tree plantations are more effective than native forests.
- 60 percent less soil erosion
- 13 percent lower water yield
- 29 percent lower species abundance
- 32 percent less biomass, or organic plant matter
Although abandoned tree plantations provided more water to the ecosystem than native forests, they were still not great.
Tree plantations excel in one area: wood production. Tree plantations produced 200% more wood volume than native forests.
Why it is important These findings could be used by policymakers to help them determine how to reforest degraded areas in a way that both meets the timber requirements of a growing global population and preserves essential forest ecosystems. Because it is easy to establish plantations of the same tree species, many tree-planting programs tend to favor this approach. It is more time-consuming and more difficult to restore native forests using a wider variety of trees.
These forests require a well-planned mix of native trees and shrubs.
The study is a strong argument for decision-makers, non-governmental organizations, and others to use the natural regenerating power nature to reforest lands in dire need of regreening. Rather than automatically resorting to fast-growing exotic trees to get quick results, Sampurno BruijnzeelStudy co-author and visiting Professor at King’s College London’s Department of Geography, tells Inverse.
Is there enough space to plant trees?
These findings highlight the dilemmas faced by policymakers: Tree plantations offer more timber for production than natural forests. lumber demandContinues to soar.
Instead of ignoring tree plantations, it might be better to incorporate them into your land-planning efforts. In some cases, tree plantations on degraded soil may be a way to protect native forests from being felled for timber.
Hua states that plantations can be an environmentally-friendly way to restore forest, but only if they are integrated into coherent land-use planning.
Bruijnzeel says that land planners must decide which areas are to be used for natural forest regeneration and which for wood-producing plantations.
Next The research goes beyond the traditional research on tree planting, which focuses on trees ability to offset global heating. Bruijnzeel states that this study does not focus on carbon sequestration and biodiversity but a range ecosystem services.
Researchers are excited to expand on their research and publish a second paper which will compare natural restored forests with old-growth forests that were not degraded.
Bruijnzeel said that he is interested in the reasons for our discovery that streams flow more efficiently through diverse forests than they do in simple, planted forests. He is trying to test certain hypotheses such as the possibility of tree plantations’ canopy intercepting more water than native forests.
To further investigate the tradeoffs between increased timber availability in tree plantations and ecosystem benefits of restored native forest, Hua plants will be used. As we look for the best way to restore deforested areas around the globe, it will be crucial to balance these two seemingly contradictory economic and environmental goals.
Hua says that ultimately, decision-makers will have to weigh competing goals to choose the best restoration approach.
