69 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: do we have more or less trees than we did 30 years ago?
Most reforestation/afforestation is NOT plantation forestry. A current estimate is that 9% of reforestation/afforestation[1] is plantations, although this estimate is probably on the low side. Agricultural abandonment and poleward movement of the tree line due to climate change are more important drivers of reforestation/afforestation. Going forward, though, the amount of plantation forestry is expected to increase. 45% of climate action pledges[2] for reforestation/afforestation are for establishment of monoculture plantation forestry, 21% are mixed-culture, small-scale agroforestry, and the rest is natural regeneration. (Note though that these numbers only include intentional and pledged reforestation efforts, and does not include "accidental reforestation" like at the tundra-taiga ecotone, which is again the majority of reforestation/afforestation.)
1: https://www.science.org/content/article/reforestation-means-just-planting-trees
2: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01026-8
Comment by Creative_Elk_4712 at 26/03/2024 at 03:39 UTC*
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
They are technically wrong, you’re right, but the sentiment was that “most of what is planted actively is in the *shape* of plantation and, due to other reasons (small distance between trees, to cite one) doesn’t develop past that form”. I don’t know if this is true either but I don’t have data available to verify