At Carroll Property Services, we continue to root for Tree Planting for Climate Sustainability
through our Tree planting services. It is now crucial than ever to manage Trees with
sustainability in mind. In 2021, our goal is to plant more than 1000 trees to add to our efforts to achieve
Today, we write on the importance of planting trees in our communities to achieve climate
sustainability.
Growing trees is not only sustainable, but it also helps solve the climate problem. Why ?
Trees are 50 percent carbon, so as trees grow, 50 percent of what you see is less carbon in the
atmosphere. One mature tree stores about 1 ton of carbon dioxide. Canada’s managed forests
accounted for removing about 20 Mt CO2e in 2017, while large-scale natural disturbances
accounted for emissions of about 237 Mt CO2e, resulting in net emissions of 217 Mt CO2e.
Why plant Trees
Step outside your home and we guarantee you won’t be far from a tree; unless you live in the
desert of course. From pine and oak to willow and ash, we’re surrounded by a huge variety of
different types of them.
You must have learned in school that planting trees is an important aspect of environmental
conservation. Probably, it’s prudent for me to remind some of you who might have forgotten the
reason for this in layman’s language.
The following are some of the reasons/ importance of planting trees:
- The Environment
Trees help to combat global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide, removing and storing the
carbon while releasing oxygen back into the air.
They also reduce wind speeds and cool the air as they lose moisture and reflect heat upwards
from their leaves. It’s estimated that trees can reduce the temperature in a city by up to 7°C.
Other environmental benefits include the fact they help to prevent flooding and soil erosion, by
absorbing thousands of liters of stormwater.
- Our Wildlife
From birds and insects to bats and squirrels, trees provide a canopy and a habitat for many
species of wildlife. But they don’t just act as a home for wildlife; the fruits from trees provide
food for them too.
- Our Health
Trees help to improve air quality by intercepting and trapping dust and other pollutants from the
air. The shade of trees also provides a useful barrier to harmful ultra-violet radiation from the
sun.
But it’s not just our physical health that benefits, our mental health does too. When surrounded
by trees or taking part in nature-based activities, stress and depression levels can be significantly
reduced.
- Our Communities
Trees can bring people together. They can act as a landmark within a neighborhood and
encourage pride amongst people within that community.
Trees and woodland areas can be used to bring people together for educational purposes. They
also allow for activities such as walking or birdwatching. Besides, they give children somewhere
to play in and feel a sense of adventure.
Planting Trees Can Help Stop Climate Change. But How
Many Trees?
The global tree restoration potential study published in the journal Science had several scientists
analyzing the global tree cover situation. They used 80,000 high-resolution satellite images from
Google Earth to measure tree cover and then mixed these results with soil, topography, and other
climate variables using AI. The result was a global map of where more trees could be planted to
help stop climate change.
The results from the study led by Prof Tom Crowther found that nearly two-thirds of all land –
8.7bn ha – can grow trees and support a forestal area. Of all this space, 5.5bn ha already have
trees and another 1.5bn ha corresponds to cropland used for growing food.
Doing the math means there is an extra 1.7bn ha with grasslands, degraded soils, or lightly
vegetated areas where more trees can be planted. This area represents around 11% of all land and
has the size of China and the US combined. The researchers involved in the study expressly
dismissed from the analysis all the land currently being used to grow crops, as well as urban
areas. However, they considered grazing land which, they say, can benefit from having trees – a
forest management technique known as agroforestry.
This huge area represents the great potential that planting trees can have in helping to stop
climate change. Prof Crowther said he was amazed by the results and by the potential that
planting trees can have to fight global warming. This (at the time) unmeasured potential that had
previously been suggested by the IPCC, the entity that spoke of the need to increase forest area
by 1 billion ha to limit global warming to 1.5oC by 2050 – was one of the goals of the study. One
that ends up being very valuable as it created a blueprint that clarifies how much tree cover there
is and how much more can be planted.
According to the global tree restoration potential study, if we act now, this could cut carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere by up to 25 percent, to levels last seen almost a century ago. Planting
trees is cheap (at least compared to high-tech sucking carbon technology whose efficiency isn’t
proven yet), it’s available and it’s something citizens can easily get involved with.
By betting on planting trees while adapting the existing monoculture plantation forests can
become more inclusive and ecological. This will help enrich wildlife and biodiversity while
reducing water pollution, soil degradation, and plagues. Nonetheless, other studies question the
efficiency of trees and bring up some concerns about the true efficiency in cap and trade systems.
Other Issues Rise When Looking More In-Depth To The
Potential Of Planting Trees
indeed, more questions need to be asked before saying out loud and with clear confidence that
planting trees all over is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best strategy to fight climate change.
How long will planting trees take before changing the levels of co2 in the atmosphere? Can
savannas and grasslands support huge increases in tree cover or will it affect the resilience of
ecosystems and perhaps even their ability to function as effectively regarding carbon
sequestration? How to conciliate the need to plant more trees with the increasingly higher
demand for food production?
It is important to consider these questions before speaking about planting trees on a large scale as
a good strategy to tackle climate change and reduce GHG concentrations. For instance, one
should consider that trees sink carbon as they grow and not right after being planted. Planting
single types of species are also dangerous for the natural balance and damaging for the health of
soils.
Saatchi, a senior scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, goes
even further as to say that we need to consider the phenomenon of climate connectivity. He
warns that when ecosystems become too fragmented, they start losing their natural functions
which makes it harder for a “reforested area to have its species range and diversity, and the
same efficiency to absorb atmospheric carbon.”
In the end, more studies with better satellite observations and modeling (that takes climate
connectivity and the current resilience of certain ecosystems into consideration) are needed –
Saatchi suggests. They will allow a better understanding of which – if any, as enriching
grasslands and arable soils can turn out to be better solutions – regions global forest reforestation
efforts should be put. Meanwhile, reducing emissions and restore original forest covers are
crucial climate change mitigation strategies.
