Trees draw carbon dioxide from the air and store it inside, and they release oxygen, which maintains a balance between the gases in the air.
Besides being a suitable environment for many living organisms, the main reason for their cultivation is the fact that they draw carbon dioxide from the air.
According to a report by Deutsche Welle, Germany, the world’s forests withdraw about 16 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, which is three times more than the carbon dioxide released by European countries combined every year.
However, the area of trees in the forests is shrinking by about 10 million hectares annually, due to the continuous logging, usually for the purpose of expanding agriculture, which affects the ability of these areas to withdraw carbon dioxide from the air.
In an effort to mitigate the damage caused by felling trees, several initiatives have emerged in the past years aimed at planting billions of trees by many of the world’s governments.
Major international companies such as “Microsoft” and “Nestlé” have also adopted similar initiatives.
Ecologist Kate Hardwick, from the Royal Botanic Gardens’ Millennium Seed Bank, said the good thing was that the general public was thinking about climate change, but she emphasized that afforestation was only part of the solution.
Trees are useful
During their life cycle, trees absorb carbon dioxide in the process of organic synthesis, keeping it in their leaves, trunks and roots in the soil.
However, the amount of gas that trees absorb from the atmosphere is a matter of debate among scientists.
The current tree planting operations around the world combined, according to a study, can absorb quantities ranging from 40 billion to about 100 billion metric tons of gas every year, but this happens when new trees reach maturity, which takes decades, and produces Humans generate about 40 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually due to burning fossil fuels.
Susan Cook Patton, a forest restoration scientist with the American Environmental Conservation Organization, says that obtaining an accurate number of the amount of gas that trees pull from the air is very difficult, as the amount may vary greatly depending on the location of the trees and their location in different regions of the world, and Patton confirms. However, afforestation is a “strong option”, but not choosing the right place for afforestation and not planning the process clearly, may lead to just a great waste of resources.
Negative effects of afforestation
According to scientists, it is better to preserve the soil in areas where trees grow naturally, and not to plant trees randomly.
Hardwick pointed out that afforestation, if done wrong, could have a serious negative impact.
She explained that the planting of non-native trees, which are brought from areas with different soil characteristics, can cause damage to the soil under cultivation.
South Africa has planted trees with different characteristics across Cape Town, which wastes about 55 billion liters of water, it says, and the city experienced a severe drought crisis in 2018.
Scientists agree that the golden rule with regard to trees is to preserve existing forests and increase the number of native trees in them as an absolute priority.
There is no single solution to the climate crisis
Properly planting trees may be a powerful tool to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but scientists warn against relying on it completely.
Patton pointed to the need to use more than one means to solve the climate crisis, most notably reducing dependence on fossil fuels, protecting existing forests and increasing their areas.
However, she stressed the need to leave forests to recover alone, which means preventing or reducing tree removal, adding that she personally loves afforestation and planting plants in their original environment, but she added that forests grow on their own if not indicated by external factors.
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