{"id":587,"date":"2019-10-24T16:27:46","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T16:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/?p=587"},"modified":"2019-10-28T17:07:06","modified_gmt":"2019-10-28T17:07:06","slug":"planting-a-trillion-trees-will-not-halt-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/2019\/10\/24\/planting-a-trillion-trees-will-not-halt-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Planting a trillion trees will not halt climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Carbon dioxide\nemitted into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels is causing the\nEarth to warm, oceans to acidify and climates to change. Because tree growth captures\natmospheric carbon, some scientists and environmental advocacy groups promote massive\ntree planting as a solution to climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A group of 46 scientists from around the world, led by Joseph Veldman of Texas A&M University, are urging caution regarding plans to address climate change through massive tree planting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These scientists teamed up with Veldman, whose research\nfocuses on the fire ecology of savannas and forests of Texas and Tropical America,\nto publish a message of concern in the journal Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWhile\ntree planting can be good in some deforested areas, tree planting in Earth\u2019s\nnatural grasslands destroys plant and animal habitat and will not sequester\nenough carbon to compensate for fossil fuel emissions,\u201d Veldman says. \u201cFew people\nrealize that planting trees in the wrong places can actually damage ecosystems,\nincrease wildfire intensity and exacerbate global warming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new publication\nis a critique of another recent paper in Science<\/em>,\nwhich claimed global, large-scale tree planting could capture 205 gigatons of\ncarbon, or one-third of the carbon dioxide emitted since the industrial\nrevolution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cBecause the estimate of 205 gigatons of carbon was so large, in July 2019, headlines around the world declared tree planting to be the best solution to climate change,\u201d Veldman said. We now know those headlines were wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their critique, Veldman and his collaborators write that\nserious methodological flaws led to a five-fold overestimate of the potential\nfor new trees to mitigate climate change. Among the problems, they point out\nthat the original study assumed that soils in ecosystems without trees contain\nno carbon, when in fact many ecosystems such as savannas and peatlands, contain\nmore carbon in soils than in the above-ground vegetation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study also neglected the fact that coniferous forests in\nboreal and high mountain regions absorb more sunlight and emit more heat than\ntreeless areas, and actually exacerbate rather than mitigate global warming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Veldman and his collaborators argue tree planting in\ngrasslands and savannas, as proposed by the original article\u2019s research team,\nis damaging to the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAncient grasslands\nand savannas contain immense biodiversity and provide services to humanity,\nsuch as livestock forage and groundwater recharge,\u201d Veldman says. \u201cWe worry\nthat a myopic focus on tree planting will reduce the capacity of people to adapt\nto climate change while distracting from efforts to conserve intact ecosystems\nand reduce fossil fuel consumption.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-author Christopher Still<\/a> of the Oregon State University College of Forestry, adds, \u00a0\u201cCareful and targeted afforestation and reforestation can help with the climate crisis, but only if done in certain regions and with appropriate safeguards for biodiversity, water availability, and in concert with local communities. \u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels is causing the Earth to warm, oceans to acidify and climates to change. Because tree growth captures atmospheric carbon, some scientists and environmental advocacy groups promote massive tree planting as a solution to climate change. A group of 46 scientists from around the… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3455,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":592,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587\/revisions\/592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}