{"id":593558,"date":"2023-10-07T19:50:01","date_gmt":"2023-10-07T16:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/is-planting-trees-to-combat-climate-change-complete-nonsense\/"},"modified":"2023-10-07T19:50:01","modified_gmt":"2023-10-07T16:50:01","slug":"is-planting-trees-to-combat-climate-change-complete-nonsense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/is-planting-trees-to-combat-climate-change-complete-nonsense\/","title":{"rendered":"#Is planting trees to combat climate change &#8216;complete nonsense&#8217;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a28b7e3961b4\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a28b7e3961b4\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/is-planting-trees-to-combat-climate-change-complete-nonsense\/#%E2%80%98Not_just_running_around_planting\" >&#8216;Not just running around planting&#8217;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-gallery lightGallery\">\n<div data-thumb=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/tmb\/2023\/mass-tree-planting-pro.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/2023\/mass-tree-planting-pro.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Mass tree planting projects have become a popular way to tackle climate change.\">\n<figure class=\"article-img\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2023\/mass-tree-planting-pro.jpg\" alt=\"Mass tree planting projects have become a popular way to tackle climate change\" title=\"Mass tree planting projects have become a popular way to tackle climate change.\" width=\"800\" height=\"530\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3\">\n                Mass tree planting projects have become a popular way to tackle climate change.<br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Bill Gates is emphatic: &#8220;I don&#8217;t plant trees,&#8221; he declared recently, wading into a debate about whether mass tree planting is really much use in fighting climate change.<\/p>\n<section class=\"article-banner first-banner ads-336x280\"><!-- \/4988204\/Phys_Story_InText_Box --><br \/>\n      <\/section>\n<p>The billionaire philanthropist was being probed on how he offsets his carbon emissions and insisted he avoids &#8220;some of the less proven <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roaches.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The claim that planting enough trees could solve the climate crisis is &#8220;complete nonsense&#8221;, he told a climate discussion organized by the New York Times last week.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Are we the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a> people or are we the idiots?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Gates&#8217; polemical pronouncements made headlines and prompted criticism from backers of reforestation (planting trees in damaged forests) and afforestation (planting in areas that were not recently forest).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have dedicated the last 16 years of my life to making forests part of the climate solution,&#8221; wrote Jad Daley, head of the American Forests NGO.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This kind of commentary can really set us back,&#8221; he said on X, formerly known as <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Mass tree planting schemes have been gaining ground for years as a way to suck carbon from the atmosphere at scale.<\/p>\n<p>Even notoriously climate change-skeptical US Republicans have introduced legislation to support planting a trillion trees worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>But Gates is far from alone in doubting the benefits of such ambitious plans.<\/p>\n<p>A group of scientists warned on Tuesday that mass tree planting risks doing more harm than good, particularly in tropical regions.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s primarily because it can replace complex ecosystems with monoculture plantations.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Society has reduced the value of these ecosystems to just one metric\u2014carbon,&#8221; the scientists from universities in Britain and South Africa wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Carbon capture is &#8220;a small component of the pivotal ecological functions that tropical forests and grassy ecosystems perform,&#8221; they said in an article in the <i>Trends in Ecology and Evolution<\/i> journal.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus Aguirre Gutierrez, an author of the paper, pointed to examples in southern Mexico and Ghana, where once diverse forests &#8220;have now transformed into homogenous masses&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>This makes them &#8220;highly vulnerable to diseases and negatively impacts local biodiversity,&#8221; the senior researcher at the University of Oxford&#8217;s Environmental Change Institute told AFP.\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-gallery lightGallery\">\n<div data-thumb=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/tmb\/2023\/reforestation-projects.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/2023\/reforestation-projects.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Reforestation projects often target areas that have been devastated by fires.\">\n<figure class=\"article-img text-center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2023\/reforestation-projects.jpg\" alt=\"Reforestation projects often target areas that have been devastated by fires\" title=\"Reforestation projects often target areas that have been devastated by fires.\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-left text-darken text-truncate text-low-up mt-3\">\n                Reforestation projects often target areas that have been devastated by fires.<br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%98Not_just_running_around_planting\"><\/span>&#8216;Not just running around planting&#8217;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Major tree planting commitments often involve agroforestry or plantations, where the trees will eventually be felled, releasing carbon.<\/p>\n<p>And they are dominated by five tree species chosen largely for their timber and pulp value, or growth speed.<\/p>\n<p>Among them is teak, which can overtake native species, &#8220;posing additional risks to native vegetation and the ecosystem&#8221;, said Aguirre Gutierrez, who is also a Natural Environment Research Council fellow.<\/p>\n<p>Other critiques include the lack of space globally for the many proposed mass planting projects and the risk of competition between smallholder agriculture and planting.<\/p>\n<p>Misclassification of grassland and wetland as suitable for forest and planting poorly adapted or cared-for seedlings have also been problems highlighted by scientists.<\/p>\n<p>So does planting trees really have no value?<\/p>\n<p>Not so fast, says Daley, whose American Forests organization says it has planted 65 million trees.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s Gates&#8217; premise that is wrong, Daley said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Literally no one is saying&#8230; that forests alone can save our environment,&#8221; he told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>He argues that critics ignore carefully calibrated projects involving native species in areas that need reforestation and focus instead on a few poorly conceived schemes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This broad brush critique has ignored the fact that much reforestation is driven by the loss of forests that won&#8217;t regenerate without help.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are not just running around planting trees wherever we feel like it to capture carbon.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>There are efforts to bridge the gap between critics and proponents, including 10 &#8220;golden rules for restoring forests&#8221;, proposed by Britain&#8217;s Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Botanic Gardens Conservation International.<\/p>\n<p>They advise avoiding grasslands or wetlands, prioritizing natural regeneration, and selecting resilient and biodiverse trees.<\/p>\n<p>But they start with a rule that perhaps everyone can agree upon: protect existing forests first.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It can take over 100 years for these forests to recover, so it is crucial that we protect what we already have before planting more.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-main__more p-4\">\n<p><strong>More information:<\/strong><br \/>\n                                                Valuing the functionality of tropical ecosystems beyond carbon, <i>Trends in Ecology &amp; Evolution<\/i> (2023). <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-doi=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1016\/j.tree.2023.08.012\">DOI: 10.1016\/j.tree.2023.08.012<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"article-main__note mt-4\">\n                                                  \u00a9 2023 AFP<\/p>\n<p>                                        <!-- print only --><\/p>\n<div class=\"d-none d-print-block\">\n<p>                                                <strong>Citation<\/strong>:<br \/>\n                                                Is planting trees to combat climate change &#8216;complete nonsense&#8217;? (2023, October 7)<br \/>\n                                                retrieved 7 October 2023<br \/>\n                                                from https:\/\/phys.org\/<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>\/2023-10-trees-combat-climate-nonsense.html<\/p>\n<p>                                             This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no<br \/>\n                                             part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script id=\"facebook-jssdk\" async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/science\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Science category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2023-10-trees-combat-climate-nonsense.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mass tree planting projects have become a popular way to tackle climate change. Bill Gates is emphatic: &#8220;I don&#8217;t plant trees,&#8221; he declared recently, wading into a debate about whether mass tree planting is really much use in fighting climate change. The billionaire philanthropist was being probed on how he offsets his carbon emissions and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":593559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/2023\/mass-tree-planting-pro.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-593558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sciencee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}