The plantation of billions of trees will be significant solution for climate crisis
Researchers believe planting billions of trees could make a game-changing impact on the climate crisis.
Researchers believe planting billions of trees could make a game-changing impact on the climate crisis.
There is roughly 900 million hectares of forest land that could support the planation of trees. According to the journal ‘Science’, once the trees have grown to maturity, the trees will be capable of holding 205 billion tonnes of carbon.
Human activity is responsible for 300 billion tonnes of carbon in the atmosphere, but if planting billions of acres of trees was put into action, it could eliminate two thirds of the extra carbon.
A study conducted by Crowther Lab scientists found that global tree restoration is “the most effective climate change solution to date”.
However some experts didn’t agree with the study saying, it isn’t possible for such forest restoration to remove so much carbon from the atmosphere but rather, we should focus on tackling the elimination of fossil fuel use.
Although Professor Tom Crowther said, “Our study shows clearly that forest restoration is the best climate change solution available today and it provides hard evidence to justify investment”, he does believe it will take decades for the trees to mature enough to reach their full potential.
Crowther goes on to say that the protection of our forests is crucial given the situation we find ourselves in today. We need to continue our efforts seeking new solutions to solve the climate crisis and reduce our use of fossil fuels.
It is claimed that the UK has land which alone can support 4.6 million hectares of tree coverage while still being habitable for animals.
With the use of image satellites, Crowther Lab was able to find 1.7 to 1.8 billion hectares of land available for forest creation.
In addition, Dr Jean- Francois carried out a study which found that there is potential for 700 million hectares of tree coverage in urban areas and croplands.
Although in contrast, Professor Simone Lewis from University College of London, begs to differ, stating that 200 billion tonnes of carbon being removed from the atmosphere solely from tree plantations is unachievable and it will take greenhouse gas emissions to fall to net zero to better the climate. It will need a heavy cut in fossil fuel use and deforestation.
