Why monoculture can be a good thing
– get the answers straight from Señor Green
Monoculture often has a very negative connotation. It comes with several problems and consequences for the soil and the environment. So it’s quite normal for people to ask why TreeCoin only plants eucalyptus trees and not natural mixed forests. Why TreeCoin supports monoculture? Well, believe us when we say that the way TreeCoin uses monoculture does not have any bad effects and actually even supports the soil quality and regeneration of the natural forests. To explain this in detail, our CEO Jörg Schäfer aka Señor Green shed a light on these questions:
Save what can be saved
The reforestation of natural forests is a very long process. A process that we have to aim for, that’s for sure. But nature, especially the natural forests, need a solution now! And this is where the TreeCoin monoculture comes in: The goal is not to plant a new forest that will exist for the next thousand years. The goal is to protect the existing natural forests from deforestation. The solution: The production of high-quality industrial wood so that no natural trees need to be cut down.
So what TreeCoin does is buy fallow land. Land on which nothing grows anymore due to previous deforestation, fires or other causes. The soil on this land is so sour that nature has no opportunity to rebuild on it. TreeCoin digs up the soil, giving oxygen the opportunity to re-invade, and then enriches the soil with a special high-quality fertilizer that they’ve developed. This way, the soil is ready to be reused as the ground for a new life. “To be frank, we don’t steal anything from nature. The land we buy is not forest land. We take ‘dead’ areas and bring them back to life before they go unused,” Señor Green explains.
“But it’s still a monoculture,” some would say. True. But for the production of industrial wood, a monoculture of eucalyptus trees is the best and fastest solution. The eucalyptus tree is one of the strongest and fastest-growing trees on earth. Moreover, Treecoin adds some features to the tree, such as making it oil-free, so that it is very safe from natural disasters or natural predators.
Now let’s look at what positive effects our monoculture has on the soil and the environment. Other monocultures, such as vegetables, take every nutrient out of the soil. After the growth phase, they reap and find their way on our plates, leaving the soil on which they grow almost useless. At TreeCoin, this looks a little different. The trees’ branches are cut at regular intervals to provide enough space for surrounding trees. They’re also felled regularly to give others the opportunity to grow not only in height but also in width. After the branches and nutrient-rich leaves are on the ground, TreeCoin leaves them there so that they can turn into natural hummus, enriching the soil with more nutrients than previously available. Let’s face it, that’s pretty good.
Little wonders
Because TreeCoin’s eucalyptus forests are sometimes so close to the edge of natural forests, TreeCoin is fortunate enough to witness beautiful crossovers. “Some of our eucalyptus forests are planted near natural forests who decide to multiply on our land because of the soil’s good quality and the seeds that are dropped. We “inadvertently” extend the natural forests, thus performing the most natural reforestation you can imagine,” says Jörg Schäfer. This would not happen if the fields remained empty. It is only made possible by the eucalyptus forest and the development of the soil.
Do you still think that monoculture is bad? We think TreeCoin has managed to make something great out of it.
Originally published at https://tree-coin.io on December 9, 2019.
