"Dozens of tree planting campaigns are launched in different countries annually to help suck CO2 out of the air. But often, there is no real climate benefit. What is going wrong and how can it be done better?"
"Environmentalist Lucy Kagendo from NGO Green Dimensions Network planted 50 saplings in Kenya last year as part of a national campaign to plant 15 billion trees by 2032.
Today, most of those trees are dead.
The idea behind such tree planting initiatives is simple. Trees remove greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere. Through photosynthesis, their leaves pull in water and planet-heating carbon dioxide, convert them into food and release oxygen as a by-product.
However, Kagendo's tree planting endeavor isn't the only one with disappointing results. Just take northern India's restoration efforts over the last 50 years.
A study by environmental journal Nature Sustainability found that the "decades of expensive tree planting programs in the region have not proved effective," because they did not "increase forest canopy cover" and failed to contribute to climate change mitigation."
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