“A Trillion Trees” is a Noble Idea, but indigenous people hold key to its success.
According to British ecologist Tom Crowther, "Every other climate change solution requires that we all change our behavior, or we need some top-down decision from a politician who may or may not believe in climate change. This one is not only our most powerful solution but it's one that every single one of us can get involved with."
Planting a trillion tree campaigns has taken off, with everyone embracing trees as a solution to the climate crisis. But even as the campaigns gains momentum, dozens of scientists have warned that planting all those trees could potentially cause more harm than good.
Crowther estimates there are 46 percent fewer trees today than when human agriculture started 12,000 years ago, but humans could reset the dial and tackle the climate crisis through mass tree planting.
According to his report, planting one trillion trees globally could remove up to 200 billion tonnes of carbon over the next 50-100 years.
Although forests play a role in solving the climate crisis, planting trees where they do not belong can harm ecosystems, make wildfires worse, and even exacerbate global warming.
Another big concern surrounding the call for planting a trillion trees is that it could distract from other efforts to slow down climate change, like stopping fossil fuel pollution and deforestation in the first place.
Forests can heal on their own if they are allowed to, and these forests end up being more resilient and more helpful in the climate fight than newly planted plots of trees. However the best way to ensure there are enough trees standing to trap the carbon dioxide heating up the planet is to secure the political rights of people who depend on forests, primarily indigenous peoples whose lands are frequently encroached upon by industry and governments.
According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s leading authority on climate science, when local communities’ land rights are jeopardized, it poses risks to both people and the planet.
Maintaining existing forests should be a priority, but restoring trees to places where they have been lost can sometimes be the next best option.
Planting more trees is not a magic bullet to stopping climate change. Experts say that trees are not homogenous and simply planting more trees is no guarantee of success.
Perhaps the biggest risk is that the appeal of natural-sounding solutions can delude us into thinking we are taking more meaningful action than we really are.
As we think through the role that trees could play in combating climate change, it’s crucial to consider the indigenous people living within the forest range.
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