Reforestation in Numbers
When a tree falls, it doesn’t matter if anyone is there to hear it; its ability to actively sequester carbon ends.
If you knew that one action you took could inherently cause a ripple effect that could prevent your grandchildren from having access to clean air, would you continue to pretend you didn’t hear the tree fall?
Mother Earth holds the power to mitigate emissions, yet over half of the world’s tropical forests have been destroyed since the 1960s (5). At our current rate of deforestation, the world’s rain forests could completely vanish within the next hundred years (1) . We’ve known that forests act as a carbon sink (anything that absorbs more carbon than it releases as carbon dioxide) but deforestation remains the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to date. Simply by protecting and restoring forests, emissions could be reduced by nearly 37 percent by 2030 (10). The solution could be that simple, it’s the execution that’s been made out to be so complex.
What will it take to wake everyone up to this issue? What will it take to keep us on track for the 2030 goals? IPCCs recent report found that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require “rapid and far-reaching” transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities. Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching ‘net zero’ around 2050 (15). This means that any remaining emissions would need to be balanced by removing CO2 from the air. Reforestation through carbon credits could be that solution.
Let’s dive in deeper to take a look at the current deforestation rate in numbers and how reforestation could help us meet the UN Paris Agreement goals.
The deforestation of trees not only lessens the amount of carbon stored, it also releases nearly a billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere per year. Deforestation in areas like the Amazon, Southeast Asia, and the Congo can also affect the water cycle, with local and global implications. Fewer trees mean fewer water vapors in the air which in turn means less rain. Scientists say this effect could translate to drought not only in the areas of deforestation but also in key agricultural areas around the world, further contributing to climate change (5).
A recent study published by Nature reported that the current number of the world’s tree population (three trillion) exceeds the number of stars in the milky way.
Although this sounds like more than enough, let’s put this in perspective. The number of trees on our planet has fallen by almost half since farming began spreading across the globe nearly 12,000 years ago (13).
“We will have a hotter, drier world without these forests, there needs to be an international price on carbon to fund the protection of forests. And countries with tropical forests should maintain large chunks of forests to stabilize rainfall for agriculture and keep a predictable regional climate.” — Deborah Lawrence, a professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia
Enough about what we’ve been doing wrong, lets focus on the solution, reforestation. Natural climate solutions such as Reforestation are a proven way of storing and reducing carbon emissions. Trees and plants have been absorbing and storing carbon for millions of years; but due to destructive deforestation, we are now seeing the repercussions. PNAS (Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) recently reported that 37% of global emissions could be captured by natural climate solutions.
Reforestation could be the solution to climate, food productivity, water regulation and biodiversity problems we’ve been facing. Although many countries, businesses and individuals have caught on to the importance of reforestation, there’s still not enough awareness and action to make a noticeable difference.
In 2015, more than 120 countries promised to plant and restore large areas of forests and the UN set targets to restore 350m hectares by 2030 — an area larger than India as a response to the climate crisis, but that number doesn’t even close to cut it. The question now becomes how we can inspire people, businesses and countries around the world to race to restore the rainforests.
Carbon credits have long been a strategy by major corporations to balance their carbon footprint. They’ve been responsible for success stories such as our sister company, Infinite Earth, who helps to protect and preserve Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve. The reserve provides, preserves, and protects 65,000 hectares of peat swamp forest and has helped mitigate over 100 tonnes of Co2 from the atmosphere.
In addition to businesses investing in carbon credits, individuals are also investing in these credits to mitigate their personal emissions such as their favorite daily coffee beverages, travel adventures, and daily transportation. To learn more about carbon credits click here.
It’s time to look to carbon credits as the answer to reforestation as we race against time to fight climate change.
Sources
[1] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation/
[2] https://www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html
[3] https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation
[5] https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2018/09/loss-of-tropical-forests-makes-climate-change-worse/
[7] https://www.ipcc.ch/news_and_events/pr_181008_P48_spm.shtml
[8] https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/pdf_archive/LIL-7-Forest-Final4.pdf
[9] https://www.globalforestwatch.org/dashboards/global
[10] http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/10/11/1710465114
[12] https://www.wri.org/blog/2010/05/copenhagen-cancun-forests-and-redd
[13] https://www.nature.com/news/trillions-of-trees-1.18333
[14] https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/
[15] https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/ecology/2018/10/we-have-12-years-halve-global-emissions
