The State of Our Planet
Our climate is changing, and our Earth is now heating at a rate unprecedented in at least 2000 years (IPCC Report 2022). This is causing extreme weather events because carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, primarily created through the burning of fossil fuels, are accumulating in the atmosphere, creating an additional planetary blanket. This means that less heat from the sun can escape back to space. Our environment, biodiversity, communities, and livelihoods are all being adversely affected by more frequent extreme weather events. Although these types of natural disasters have occurred before, today climate change is super-sizing them, making them much more dangerous and damaging.
What Can Trees Do?
Trees can play a vital role in helping to restore the natural balance on our planet. They absorb harmful pollutants and store carbon emissions, subsequently releasing oxygen into the air. Currently, trees represent one of our most effective carbon technologies. There used to be 6 trillion trees on Earth, but today only about 3 trillion trees remain. We are losing approximately 15 billion trees annually and destroying an area of forest equivalent to a football field every 1.2 seconds. At the current rate of deforestation, the world's rainforests could completely disappear within 100 years. Deforestation is also the second-largest emitter of CO2 at 20%, primarily due to land clearing for cattle rearing and agriculture.
Scientific research estimates that a worldwide tree-planting program could remove two-thirds of all CO2 emissions. Scientists assert that they "know of no other solution that is quantitatively as large in terms of carbon capture." Existing forests around the world currently absorb about 30% of annual CO2 emissions, and if we restore nature, we could achieve an additional carbon drawdown of 20 to 30% (Dr. Thomas Crowther, 2022). Calculations suggest that there is still around 900 million hectares of tree restoration potential in the world, which is sufficient to plant 1.2 trillion trees. Therefore, we need to protect existing forests and continue restoring those that have been destroyed.
Trees are truly critical to the well-being of our planet, but we must remember that nature is not just a carbon store; it is the infinite network of ecosystems that is vital to human life (Thomas Crowther, 2022). Forests nurture and improve our soils, act as carbon sinks, clean the air we breathe by absorbing harmful pollutants, provide healthy food, serve as natural aqueducts helping water quality, and offer habitat to 80% of the world’s terrestrial plants and animals. Shockingly, in the last 50 years, we have experienced massive loss in biodiversity; the world's wildlife populations have plummeted by more than two-thirds (WWF). Biodiversity includes pollinators such as bees, one of the world’s species vital to food production, pollinating around a third of our food. Finally, some 1.6 billion people worldwide depend directly on forests and their biodiversity for food, shelter, energy, medicines, and income (UN Global Forests Report 2021). Reforestation in those places where we have already lost trees is the key. Where the conditions are right, we can harness the power of nature to help create a future in which both people and nature can thrive. Natural climate solutions can be effective if the role of local communities as sources of indigenous knowledge is listened to, included, and supported integrally in any reforestation project. Only then can we ensure that the forests we grow become permanent and sustainable.
There is no doubt that a stable future climate requires revolutions in our energy sector and massive efforts by all of us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "Just" planting trees and continuing business as usual is not a solution; we must use a combination of approaches if we want to help reverse climate change. This includes those all-important trees, but noticing, measuring, and reducing our consumption is the first step to reducing emissions. Whatever is then left and hard to reduce, we should look at compensating in a meaningful way with high-quality carbon offsets.