Is planting of trees really the panacea to devastating climate change effects?
Tree planting has been hailed globally as one of the weapons against climate change. Through it, degraded land and forest cover can be restored, increasing carbon absorption from the environment, thus keeping increases in global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celcius. This is the level the Paris Agreement on climate change has identified as essential to avoid the most damaging effects of climate change. With this realisation, several countries have made commitments to plant trees. Recently, The concern, however, is that by focusing on the planting of trees, politicians and tree-planting advocates may be neglecting to monitor the success of the programmes and the overall environmental impact of such initiatives. There are concerns. First, it is pointless to expend resources on planting millions of trees that end up dying because they were not tended to. Sustainability requires sufficient financial resources to be set aside to pay workers and meet the associated costs of growing and protecting trees. For example, planting trees in semi-arid regions without a sustainable source of water is an exercise in futility. The trees that are planted must be suited to the ecology of the area, bearing in mind that the greater the biodiversity of a forest, the better it will be at storing carbon. Moreover, planting more trees without stopping the destruction of mature natural forests will not achieve the intended result of reducing carbon. For instance, the decades-long afforestation programme of the Chilean government from 1974-2012, which replaced native forests with profitable tree plantations, caused catastrophic losses of biodiversity and natural carbon sinks. Secondly, and related to sustainability, is about effective planning. Most tree planting exercises are carried out on an ad hoc basis, often yielding mixed results. The Chilean programme further failed because policies to incentivise tree planting were poorly designed and enforced, resulting in wasted public funds. Government tree-planting plans need to set realistic, manageable targets that will enable trees to be nurtured to maturity. Thirdly, there is a need to move away from top-down approaches and work more from the bottom up. It is common to witness prominent officials, civil society organisations and the private sector launching tree-planting initiatives in Africa. In many cases, there is no engagement with the local people, resulting in a lack of awareness of the programmes. In some cases, there is even resentment by the communities, who view the initiatives as an intrusion onto their farmlands. In Lesotho for example, a former king, accompanied by government officials, planted trees in a local community. According to local custom, anything undertaken by the king should not be touched; so, rather than caring for and watering the trees, the community watched as they shrivelled and died. Tree planting programmes must engage with and educate communities on the role of forests in abating the climate change crisis. The impression one gets when discussing tree planting across Africa is that it is a very successful venture. Every donor and sponsor can recall the number of trees they have planted but, ironically, the number of trees that have actually survived to maturity is never mentioned. With drought and conflict devastating most parts of Africa, it is likely that many of the planted trees have perished. Consequently, a fourth suggestion is that tracking systems be integrated into tree-planting programmes to provide accurate information on tree survival rates. Vietnam provides an excellent example of how forest cover tracking, coupled with community support, can accurately monitor tree-planting programmes. Since 1975, forest cover has increased from 17 per cent to 40 per cent—evidence of a country successfully fighting the war on climate change. Clearly, planting trees helps to mitigate the effects of climate change and protects the planet. However, the success of these initiatives depends not only on planting the right tree for a certain environment but also ensuring community buy-in of the project and coupling the enthusiasm of tree planters with careful planning, implementation and monitoring of their programmes. Additionally, the remaining indigenous forests, with their wealth of biodiversity, must be protected if climate change is to be contained.