Is tree planting an effective strategy for climate change mitigation ?
Kirschbaum, Miko (Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research)
Cowie, Annette (University of New England)
Peñuelas, Josep (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Smith, Pete (University of Aberdeen. Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences)
Conant, Richard (Colorado State University. Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory)
Sage, Rowan (University of Toronto. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology)
Brandão, Miguel (KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering)
Cotrufo, M. Francesca (Colorado State University. Department of Soil and Crop Sciences)
Luo, Yiqi (Cornell University. School of Integrative Plant Science)
Way, Danielle (The Australian National University. Research School of Biology. Division of Plant Sciences)
Robinson, Sharon A. (University of Wollongong. School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences)

Date:	2024
Abstract:	The world's forests store large amounts of carbon (C), and growing forests can reduce atmospheric CO2 by storing C in their biomass. This has provided the impetus for world-wide tree planting initiatives to offset fossil-fuel emissions. However, forests interact with their environment in complex and multifaceted ways that must be considered for a balanced assessment of the value of planting trees. - First, one needs to consider the potential reversibility of C sequestration in trees through either harvesting or tree death from natural factors. If carbon storage is only temporary, future temperatures will actually be higher than without tree plantings, but cumulative warming will be reduced, contributing both positively and negatively to future climate-change impacts. Alternatively, forests could be used for bioenergy or wood products to replace fossil-fuel use which would obviate the need to consider the possible reversibility of any benefits. -Forests also affect the Earth's energy balance through either absorbing or reflecting incoming solar radiation. As forests generally absorb more incoming radiation than bare ground or grasslands, this constitutes an important warming effect that substantially reduces the benefit of C storage, especially in snow-covered regions. Forests also affect other local ecosystem services, such as conserving biodiversity, modifying water and nutrient cycles, and preventing erosion that could be either beneficial or harmful depending on specific circumstances. - Considering all these factors, tree plantings may be beneficial or detrimental for mitigating climate-change impacts, but the range of possibilities makes generalisations difficult. Their net benefit depends on many factors that differ between specific circumstances. One can, therefore, neither uncritically endorse tree planting everywhere, nor condemn it as counter-productive. Our aim is to provide key information to enable appropriate assessments to be made under specific circumstances. We conclude our discussion by providing a step-by-step guide for assessing the merit of tree plantings under specific circumstances.
Grants:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación TED2021-132627B-I00
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Albedo ; Bioenergy ; Carbon ; Ecosystem service ; Carbon sequestration ; Wood products
Published in:	Science of the total environment, Vol. 909 (Jan. 2024) , art 168479, ISSN 1879-1026

DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168479

Available from: 2026-01-30 Postprint

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles