8 billion trees criticism

For instance, much of the land Crowther described as available for tree planting already has plants growing on it, all of them storing carbon, many of which would have to be removed, according to Sonia Seneviratne of ETH-Zurich and her colleagues. It is a project typical of his bigpicture thinking in ecology partly a consequence of a near fatal stroke in his mid-20s that has helped propel the 35-year-old from a postdoctoral researcher to a leading voice, with his own lab, in just a few years. When we asked them about their decision to do this, they gave us a candid response: He points to the Welsh hills, which are severely deforested and consequently lacking in wildlife but which are politically difficult to reforest because they are dominated by the sheep-farming industry. Portfolio audit. The vision is to try to bring integrity into the process of protecting biodiversity, he says. Others point to another solution with a more proven track record and that might be more deserving of global support empowering the people who live in and safeguard forests already. We messed up the communications so badly, Crowther says, clearly wounded by the backlash. In other words, if we stopped cutting down trees we would cut our annual emissions by about 10%. Thats going to have a bigger impact.. That means we must also find ways to actively remove CO2 from the air. But another anonymous government official questioned the validity of this claim, asking where the record is of these 85,000 workers. The most notable concerns about carbon offset projects that companies like Terrapass support include their verifiability, how long the advantages last, leakage, and the selling of "empty" carbon credits. The team mapped how tree crown diameter, coverage, and density varied depending on . Ethiopia aimed to plant 5 billion seedlings in three months. 8 Billion Trees is a Business that is Prioritizing the Cause of Actually Planting 8 Billion Trees Around The World, While Setting the Example of How a Cause Centric Business Can Succeed LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 14, 2019 /The founders of 8 Billion Trees are pleased to announce the launch of a new company that has one simple mission: to change the world, one tree at a time. He caught the eye of his Dutch backers, DOB Ecology, following his 2015 paper counting the planets three trillion trees, which remains the most authoritative estimate to date. Restoring forests may be one of our most powerful weapons in fighting climate change. As a result, planting more trees typically makes the land darker. The other thing trees do is emit volatile chemicals into the air. And a Pakistani government investigation found that at least $3 million in Tree Tsunami funds were stolen, mostly by government officials and landowners involved in the program. By restoring forests in an area roughly the size of China, the press release accompanying the paper suggested two-thirds of all emissions from human activities still present in the atmosphere could be removed. New trees can either be planted in regions that have been deforested (reforestation) or in places that have never had them before (afforestation). 8 Billion Trees was born on November 10th, 2018. Specifically, California over-credited its forest carbon offsets program (the largest in the world, valued at $2 billion) by a shocking 29.4%.4. Trees in the United States already provide $6.8 billion in health benefits every year by filtering pollution from the air, on top of additional benefits from cleaner water, wildlife habitat and forest industries. Among them, Terrapass has faced extensive public scrutiny. In South Africa, for example, many naturally open habitats, including grasslands and heathlands, have been invaded by introduced trees like eucalyptus and acacia species from Australia and pines from the Northern Hemisphere. After the initial media blitz rallied excitement for the seemingly simple climate solution, a group of 46 scientists, including Fleischman, responded to the study with their critique. (n.d.). The first issue is that trees are dark, at least compared to other things that might blanket the land, such as grass or snow. 8billiontrees.com Review - Scam Detector. In this case, it merely leaked carbon dioxide to foreign locations. However, a closer look at the companys standards and practices clarifies that its one of the most trustworthy climate-focused orgs in the world. Hassan Abbas, an expert in environmental affairs, says that the plan to plant ten billion trees is being executed without any proper planning. But the subject of the forest restoration controversy is never far away. Young Entrepreneur Uses $100,000 of His Own Money to Start - ACCESSWIRE Theres still a question mark, says Beerling. Even as it supports forestry projects in the state of California, Terrapass exceeds quality expectations in the carbon offset marketplace, providing the highest level of transparency and efficiency possible in all its available programs. Government supporters are benefitting from the project, the official claimed. The government said that the project would cost a little over 125 billion rupees ($750 million, 633 million) but critics claim that other costs are being ignored. In July 2019, the British ecologist co-authored. Environmentalist Sitara Parveen from the mountainous Hunza region of northern Pakistan is happy about the move. Best Programs and Providers 2023|November 9, 2022, Recent discoveries about erroneous carbon credit calculations have fueled public doubt about the voluntary carbon marketplace (VCM), since understanding the carbon offset marketplace can be confusing. In July 2019, the British ecologist co-authored a study estimating that Earth had space for an extra trillion trees on land not used for agriculture or settlement. A plantation site for the 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Project in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Needles of Blue Pine tree. 8 Billion Trees Reviews - 1,841 Reviews | shop.8billiontrees.com - Loox.io It is hoped that, in time, multinationals will list suppliers of raw materials, such as cocoa, cotton and wood. Last month, a global review of tree-planting initiatives in the tropics and subtropics since 1961 found that while dozens of organisations reported planting a total of 1.4 billion trees, just 18% mentioned monitoring and only 5% measured survival rates. The idea is everywhere. (Image) 6 However, there are also surprise benefits of planting trees. Currently, groundwater has to be extracted for the plants, putting strains on already depleted reserves. At this point we have emitted so much CO2, and left emissions cuts so late, that we are almost certain to miss our targets of limiting warming to 1.5C or 2C. Smart and Archibald say that we should be looking less at trees and forests and more under the literal surface for carbon storage solutions, because in many parts of the world, far more carbon is held in the soil than in aboveground biomass. secure the political rights of people who depend on forests. The primary way that any buyer can verify their purchased offsets is by ensuring the company uses a third-party verifier, or a validation and verification body (VVB). Pakistan's former Inspector General of Forests Syed Mahmood Nasir agrees. Instead of that guy from Salesforce saying, Im going to put money into planting a trillion trees, Id like him to go and say, Im going to put my money into helping indigenous people in the Amazon defend their lands, Fleischman says. Everyone [in restoration] wants to do good. He writes about international and African wildlife issues for Yale Environment 360. Women participating in Ethiopias mass tree-planting campaign in Addis Ababa last June. The then US president, Donald Trump, and first lady, Melania, planting a tree on the south lawn of the White House in 2020. The findings have been published in leading journals, and Jane Goodall, David Attenborough and others cite Crowthers lab research. Retrieved July 17, 2021, from: https://carbonplan.org/research/forest-offsets-explainer, 5United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Several ecologists were outraged that forest restoration was framed as the most effective climate change solution to date, arguing that it was a dangerously misleading distraction from the urgency of cutting fossil fuel emissions. Protecting existing forests and planting new ones are surely good things to do. One of its leading supporters is Marc Benioff, the billionaire CEO of Salesforce, who pledged funds to plant 100 million of them. Organizations like Terrapass are working to combat public doubt. Ive never in my life said we should plant a trillion trees. Few people realize that such a change would transform Pakistan's climate, not only protecting the country from disasters but also saving millions of lives, she added. Its got the backing of big names: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is contributing an undisclosed amount of his own cash to the effort, while his company has committed itself to planting 100 million trees. This finding has had immediate, fierce pushback from other climate scientists. It inspired the World Economic Forums (WEF) One Trillion Trees Initiative, launched last year after Salesforce billionaire Marc Benioff read the paper on the recommendation of Al Gore, the former US vice-president. Depending on soil types and climate, grasses often use less water to sequester soil carbon than trees do, and can do so faster and more effectively at higher temperatures. By AdamWelz This causes a net increase in GHG emissions, but the company appears to have lowered their carbon output. Global deforestation rates & statistics by country | GFW. Are Huge Tree Planting Projects More Hype than Solution? With the right support we can continue to do so for generations to come, reads a statement from indigenous and community organizations from 42 countries spanning 76 percent of the worlds tropical forest in response to a report from the IPCC. We have cared for our lands and forests and the biodiversity they contain for generations. Did the government plant tens of thousands of trees in northern areas of the country? Tarick Belahbib - Sales Trader Environmental Commodities - LinkedIn However, many developing countries lack the scientific expertise to thoroughly assess and plan tree-planting programs, and many local communities dont have enough political power to determine the fate of their land, she says, so there is a real risk that politicians will push socially and environmentally damaging projects ahead regardless of expert concerns. These have virtually no biodiversity benefits and may even replace something that was better. IFM is integral to the states carbon-sequestering activity. April8,2021, In late January, the multibillionaire Elon Musk took to Twitter and abruptly announced, Am donating $100M towards a prize for best carbon capture technology. "Provision of solar geysers and cooking stoves, and a restriction on tree felling in northern and northwestern areas could help a lot," he said. The Amazon now releases more carbon dioxide than it stores, in large part due to forest loss from mining, logging, agriculture, and fires. When trees are cut down, it is important that the carbon they contain is not released again into the atmosphere (Credit: Getty Images). Instead of this costly project, the government should have targeted deforestation with strict administrative measures, the senior government official said. Numerous organizations are facing newfound scrutiny, and the popular company Terrapass, has not been spared with many wondering, Is Terrapass legit?. This implies natural climate solutions could mop up about 30% of the CO2 we need to deal with every year. If you liked this story,sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called The Essential List. Retrieved July 17, 2021, from: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34560.pdf, 3Carbon Market Watch. Ethiopia aimed to plant 5 billion seedlings in three months. Gujjars lost access to large grazing areas and were forced to sell their animals, abandon their traditional way of life, and seek low-paying jobs in distant cities. In some areas, households burn over 10kg of wood every day. (n.d.). Crowther says Restor is his lifes vision, mapping the latest data and thousands of conservation projects. "Imagine billions of trees and calculate the total cost, which could have been diverted for clearing the river banks, ensuring the flow of water from rivers that would have led to natural growth of trees without spending any money," he said. One solution, says Archibald, is better information. In particular, last year one research group claimed we can plant a trillion extra trees and remove a quarter of the carbon dioxide currently in the air. The company supports three different forestry programs, one of which is in Humboldt, CA. They get new lives because you know, the World Economic Forum is talking about it, he says. Birth 29 NOV 1904 - Amsterdam,North Holland,Netherlands. The researchers determined this area by mapping land with sufficient rainfall to support trees, but that is not currently occupied by forests, agriculture, or urban areas. 2023 8 Billion Trees. The lead author of that study, however, cautions against pitting all tree planting efforts against forest conservation. Maintaining existing forests should be a priority, but restoring trees to places where theyve been lost can sometimes be the next best option, he says. Despite what 8 billion trees says, they're usually connected to buying a timeshare, joining a vacation club, or entering into some other sort of contract. Planting trees can play a part in reducing carbon in the atmosphere but it cannot reverse global warming on its own (Credit: Getty Images). Its dangerous to conflate restoration with adding trees, says Archibald, of Wits University, because often restoration means taking trees away.. How would planting 8 billion trees every year for 20 years affect Earth I hate that people keep asking me: where are you going to plant these trillion trees? Crowther says. We now know those headlines were wrong. Veldman argued that planting trees where they dont belong can harm ecosystems, make wildfires worse, and even exacerbate global warming. If successful, the platform could help move away from the carbon in, carbon out logic underlying many conservation projects. As Fatal Fungus Takes Its Toll, Can We Save Frog Species on the Brink? Retrieved July 17, 2021, from: https://www.vox.com/2019/7/4/20681331/climate-change-solutions-trees-deforestation-reforestation, 9Global Forest Watch. Planting trees can help with both, he says, but only if we do it right. We may need something thats ultra-large-scale industrial in 10 to 20 years.. Key Takeaways. One international organization has claimed, citing the government's own data, that Pakistan's forest coverage has grown from 5% to 13% in just a few years. The study also considered planting trees on savannas and grasslands, where planting non-native trees could cause problems for local species. Hequestioned the transparency of the publicly funded budget that does not include transport and other costs. 2:15 p.m. EST MR PRICE: Good afternoon. They point to flaws in the studies that have inspired large-scale programs, and say that harmful types of tree planting are regularly conflated with beneficial natural forest restoration. Adam Welz is a South African writer, photographer, and filmmaker based in Cape Town. It follows that we should both stop chopping down forests especially tropical ones like the Amazon, which store huge amounts of carbon and start planting more. Forests cannot be planted in isolation, he told DW, they need to have a canopy and understory where medicinal and herbal plantsmay flourish. The authors of the contested study stand by their work. By selling them upfront, California officials severely bloated their numbers. Headlines around the world declared tree planting to be the best solution to climate change, lead author of the critique Joseph Veldman said in a statement at the time. By some estimates, trees can be an enormous carbon sink. Planting billions of trees across the world is one of the biggest and cheapest ways of taking CO2 out of the atmosphere to tackle the climate crisis, according to scientists, who have made the. The platform is focused on signing up NGOs initially about 30,000 so far, with tens of thousands in the process of being uploaded. 2. The organization began in October 2004, with the central aim of helping people reduce their cars climate impact. We drive change by mobilizing the private sector, facilitating multi-stakeholder partnerships in key regions, and supporting innovation and ecopreneurship on the ground. Earlier this year, he launched the platform Restor his lifes vision which brings together the latest data and thousands of conservation projects in a Google Maps of biodiversity. But since the study was published, it has faced intense scientific criticism. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. Prevention Platform. However, the states analytical blunder isnt representative of Terrapasss legitimacy or suspected lack thereof. This could easily be prevented by tough action, he added. Probably the more important effect is those particles act as seeds for cloud droplets, says Spracklen. Between 2003 and 2016, lands under indigenous control had the smallest losses of carbon because the forest stayed intact and regrew in places that had been disturbed. Tree planting 'has mind-blowing potential' to tackle climate crisis Specifically, according to a 2007 study that has been repeatedly confirmed, the best place to plant new trees is the tropics, where trees grow fastest and thus trap the most CO2. Once those trees had matured, they could store 752 billion tonnes of CO2. The Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has made a film arguing for extra protections for the worlds forests, and for the replanting of those that have been cut down. He argues that 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. There is definitely room for a trillion trees to be restored within ecosystems. Sign up for the E360 Newsletter . Pakistan: Environmentalists slam '10 billion trees' project They claimed in a letter that the campaign threatened to dry up streams and destroy habitats. Tree-planting campaigns have taken off, with everyone from YouTube creators to high-powered CEOs embracing trees as a solution to the climate crisis. "I have seen the planting of thousands of trees in my own area," she said. China is on track to plant 35 million hectares (87 million acres) of trees in its northern arid areas by 2050 to make a so-called Great Green Wall the size of Germany. Supercomputing Study Breaks Ground for Tree Mapping, Carbon Research - NASA We want to protect and help Earth by planting and saving over 8 billion trees. It claimed that planting a trillion trees could capture more than a third of all the greenhouse gases humans have released since the industrial revolution. (n.d.). And their numbers keep growing: A company called tentree recently promised to plant a billion trees by 2030, beating Benioffs commitment by an order of magnitude. Researchers have identified South Africa's Kruger National Park (seen here) as suitable for planting trees, even though it is mostly a natural open savanna ecosystem. If you plant trees there, youre losing livelihoods, youre losing future opportunities, and youre damaging natural biodiversity., Many planting proponents acknowledge that trees can have negative effects, but that putting the right trees in the right places can sequester carbon, rebuild forests, and enhance agricultural productivity. In Cambodia, a Battered Mekong Defies Doomsday Predictions, How Weather Forecasts Can Help Dams Supply More Water, In Scramble for Clean Energy, Europe Is Turning to North Africa, As Millions of Solar Panels Age Out, Recyclers Hope to Cash In. Trees are an integral part of many animals livelihood, supplying food and shelter most importantly. For humans and wildlifes sake, verifying forestry carbon offsets is a non-negotiable step. Reforestation was a potent tool for climate crisis mitigation, just less so than initially suggested, and certainly not a replacement for decarbonisation. But excluding below-ground carbon from measurements biases the picture in favor of forests, which hold more carbon aboveground than grasslands do. The criticism has hit home. About Us | 8 Billion Trees Grasses are also less vulnerable to destruction by fire, drought, and disease. The VCM is a voluntary system, meaning that there is little oversight and regulation, since there are no designated ruling bodies agreeing to one set of standards. People who live alongside and depend on the river would be affected too, says Prakash Kashwan, a political science professor at the University of Connecticut. Ecologists overwhelmingly agree forests have an important role to play in climate crisis mitigation alongside peatlands, wetlands and other solutions despite disagreement over the carbon accounting. Do forests grow better with our help or without? They had already issued a lengthy response to criticisms in the journal Science, explaining that they did not mean reforestation was a potential magic bullet or a substitute for reducing fossil fuel use. Its not nothing, but it doesnt really fundamentally change the story: we still need some pretty massive reductions in our emissions. The implications go beyond the states borders, affecting many well-known organizations in the offsets industry. The study found that the number of trees on the planet since the dawn of agriculture 12,000 years ago has fallen by almost halfand that about 10 billion trees are lost every year. Terrapass is one of many US carbon offset organizations that have been under increasing scrutiny in recent months. The government has said that it launched the plan to reverse environmental degradation but critics believe that is not the case. He takes full responsibility for the failures, and, with a team of researchers, has been re-doing the analysis with a different approach. This is certainly a valid concern to consider as youre shopping for carbon credits, especially since the recent reports revealing devastating truths about the carbon marketplaces dark side. In 2014 Unger calculated that, by chopping down forests from 1850 to the 2000s and thus preventing them emitting volatiles, we have created a cooling effect that slightly offset the warming from greenhouse gas emissions. It turns out that California made some gross generalizations about regional forests carbon stocks. The carbon marketplace is one of the most powerful tools we have to mitigate climate change effects. Theres virtually nowhere where lands just lying idle and you can just come along and do that.. For example, the aerosols create a faint haze. However, it does have some drawbacks. As part of the provinces Billion Tree Tsunami, which began in 2014, the government gave free seedlings to landowners and paid them annually for every tree that survived. If the issue did arise, the fault would lie with that individual business, not a company like Terrapass. You have to be careful where you do reforestation, says David Beerling of the University of Sheffield in the UK. Organizers of the Cauvery tree-planting project have said the criticism against it is a baseless opinion that contains blatant untruths and loose comments with no backing in facts. It says the trees will revive the river by increasing water retention. Similar conflicts over land use exist in all countries. We encourage you to research and examine these records to determine their accuracy. Volunteers plant trees on the edge of the Badain Jaran Desert on Chinas Tree-Planting Day on March 12, 2021 in Gansu Province. Others thought the paper dramatically overstated where new forests could grow by including savannahs and grasslands in its artificial intelligence-derived estimate of land suitable. Uncertainties do remain, however. In line with this, Law has highlighted that planting rich new forests can boost local biodiversity, as well as improving water availability. Credit: bassvdo/Shutterstock. Why Is 8 Billion Trees Not a Charity? The tree is just the symbol of ecosystem restoration., Researchers have identified South Africa's Kruger National Park (seen here) as suitable for planting trees, even though it is mostly a natural open savanna ecosystem. This is not just talk. These include counting the planets 0.4 sextillion nematodes, Earths most abundant animal. Barend 'Abraham' COZIJN 1855-1936 - Ancestry However, other reforestation experts are critical of Ungers findings. All Rights Reserved, By submitting your email, you agree to our. All rights reserved. Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been accused of encouraging the genocide of indigenous tribes at the same time that hes pledged to open up more parts of the Amazon for development. Any organization enrolled in a carbon offset program with genuine climate-friendly goals would try to prevent this. Carbon offset transparency | Project standards. Taking stock of carbon.

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