Without protection, today’s planted trees may be tomorrow’s deadwood
Sustainable tree planting and reforestation are essential for combating climate change and restoring biodiversity. In this article, we explore the vital role these practices play in environmental conservation.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of individual tree-planting projects around the world. Many of these projects highlight huge numbers of trees being planted and the amount of carbon that this is offsetting. But planting trees is just a fraction of the overall picture: without protection, today’s planted trees may be tomorrow’s deadwood.
One aspect of tree planting where many multinational and other large organisations in the non-profit sector fall short is long-term project sustainability. Without ongoing maintenance and protection, simply planting trees is usually a futile undertaking. It can also be actively damaging to climate change mitigation efforts. Reporting only the number of planted trees provides a false picture of the amount of carbon being offset, if these numbers are not supported by ongoing monitoring and high survival rates.
Concerns over “greenwashing” – where huge, once-off tree planting publicity exercises are used to excuse or distract from ongoing destructive business practices – always need to be kept in mind. It is important, though, to remember that planting trees is not in itself greenwashing. Project reports that lack transparency and simply cite the number of trees planted, however, may well be.
There are a number of factors contributing to the effectiveness of tree planting efforts, encompassing ecological and socio-economic considerations. Without these considerations, tree planting is likely to be ineffective, misleading, and a misdirected waste of effort and money.
Ecological aspects
Sustainable Tree Planting and Reforestation initiatives such as Food & Trees for Africa’s Stutterheim Reforestation Project are highly effective contributors to carbon sequestration. While new-growth trees cannot replace the carbon storage potential of old-growth forests, they do contribute to carbon sequestration both above and below ground. They can also serve as buffer zones to protect old-growth forest areas and prevent the fragmentation of forest edges, which can have negative impacts that extend deeper into forest areas.
Reforestation also includes valuable ecological considerations such as promoting biodiversity, which increases the resilience of rehabilitated areas, as opposed to single-species tree planting projects, which are far more vulnerable to environmental changes, disease, and other risks. This is a major concern, given that data from the World Resources Institute suggests that 45% of reforestation projects around the world are single-species, while 90% are based on low-biodiversity seedlings.
More diverse tree and plant communities support more biodiverse animal, bird, and insect populations, increasing the health of the overall ecosystem. Diverse plant communities also play a role in improved soil health. All of these factors combine to create self-sustaining natural areas that will survive in the long-term if they are protected from human activities.
When it comes to reforestation, planting trees is just the start. Effective reforestation requires ongoing monitoring and adaptive management to ensure project success and effectiveness, so that planted saplings can become adult trees.
A barren, failed tree-planting site
FTA’s Stutterheim Reforestation Project: A well-maintained, thriving reforested area
Socio-economic aspects
As with any ecological rehabilitation and restoration activities, effectively involving local communities in tree planting projects is one of the best ways to ensure project success and improve sapling survival rates.
Community tree planting projects in urban and peri-urban areas can be an extremely effective way of improving the survival of planted trees. Working with people to plant trees within their community creates a sense of ownership over these trees. This is especially true if conducted alongside awareness and education on the multiple advantages trees provide in urban spaces, such as providing shade, reducing the urban heat island effect by lowering ambient temperatures, and improving mental and physical health and wellbeing.
Conducting tree planting initiatives at schools is one really effective way of ensuring long-term project viability. Planted trees can provide all the aforementioned benefits to school learners, as well as acting as a physical education tool to increase awareness of the importance of trees.
Tree planting at schools can create a lasting legacy, as shown in FTA’s project at Nomini Primary School in Orange Farm, just outside Johannesburg. Here, 20 years on the initial tree planting at the school and within the surrounding community inspired more widespread interest in the community and resulted in the greening and beautification of the whole community.
Planting fruit trees is another way of adding complementary value to tree planting initiatives, by contributing to food security within communities. If managed on a larger scale, this can also help to create local circular economies and improve overall food nutrition.
Indigenous trees being reared in the nursery for the Stutterheim Reforestation Project, at different growth phases
Community members involved in tree-planting initiatives.
Sustainability: beyond “trees planted”
Ensuring project viability in the long term enables organisations to turn potentially misleading and damaging statistics like “number of trees planted” into far more valuable metrics such as the size of forest area restored, the number and diversity of trees within a rehabilitated ecosystem, or long-term survival of trees planted within schools and communities.
Involving communities in sustainable tree planting and reforestation and afforestation work helps to ensure that not only are trees planted, but diverse and productive ecosystems are sustainably rehabilitated so that their value can continue to rise with each passing year as trees age, grow, and increase carbon sequestration. Importantly, report transparency ensures that the ongoing effectiveness of reforestation can be monitored and maintained.
Within communities, skills and knowledge transferral is key to securing the long-term efficacy of tree planting projects, as communities are empowered to make the most of tree donations and planting initiatives.
FTA’s tree planting programmes and community nurseries provide some of South Africa’s most disadvantaged communities access to the positive mental health benefits of trees and other green areas, and inspire communities to be the change they wish to see.
