So did anyone plant a tree recently? 🙂 I certainly hope you did!
Previously we talked about deforestation and it’s negative climate impact on a global scale. So the reduction in forest area can happen in two ways, by deforestation and by natural disasters that are scaled up by the climate change. As opposed to natural disasters we have processes that show constant attempts of healing from mother nature. In this article I would like to remind you how nature is a strong force that use to have everything balanced.
Forest loss contributes to 1/6 of annual greenhouse gas emissions. Photo: FAO/Joan Manuel Baliellas
Forestation is a naturally occurring process when forests are expanding by themselves. It can happen like spontaneous expansion of existing forests or it could grow on abandoned agricultural land.
It happens all the time, we are just too busy cutting to notice the growth.
What can we do to help nature back on its course?
Well, for starters we can reduce if not stop our destructive actions towards nature. We could also start busting the forestation process that occurs naturally. So there are two terms that we can use when talking about forest formation enhanced by humanity. UN FAO (United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation) has a following definition :
“Plantations established on lands that have been temporarily cleared and which replace the previous forest stands.”
This is reforestation and the total forest area has remained quantitatively unchanged. What it actually means is just reimbursing what we took. So we cut a forest for some very important purpose, we would naturally want to plant a new one in its place. That is Reforestation. We don’t have a positive impact, we just have a clearer conscience. Don’t get me wrong that is way better than doing nothing! But what if we could do something even better? The second term I was telling you about is Afforestation and UN FAO defines it as follows:
“Plantations established on lands that were not classified as forest lands until now.”
So basically, afforestation means that we have an increase in wood stock, since we are planting new forests in areas that weren’t covered by trees previously. What it also means is that we can sequester more CO2. That is what can actually make an impact in a positive way and nudge the climate change in different direction. Vegetation has always played a huge role in the global carbon cycle and many scientists argue that afforestation is a safest and the most efficient method of carbon sequestration and geoengineering in general. So…
Let’s agree to help nature get back on it’s course! Don’t plant a tree, plant 2 more! 🙂
P.S. If you have any questions or just some thoughts on the topic feel free to share in the comments section below!