Catch-22: The unexpected consequences of reforestation.
Planting trees in less-than-ideal locations or landfilling for inappropriate purposes may contribute to global warming, scientists have stated. New map in USA advocates for restoring the right ecosystems to cool the planet.
Trees absorb carbon dioxide, and restoring degraded forest areas or planting saplings to increase tree coverage is currently a key political strategy in combating climate change. However, in some cases, larger trees can reduce the amount of sunlight reflected back from the Earth’s surface, causing the planet to absorb more heat. This finding was reported in a study published in the journal Nature Communications.
The discovery does not affect your decision to plant a single tree in your backyard, but it should influence decisions when it comes to planting hundreds and thousands of them.
In response to this challenge, scientists announced in the journal One Earth on December 18 the development of the Reforestation Hub, an interactive map showcasing reforestation opportunities across the United States. This tool aims to assist foresters, policymakers, and personnel from natural resource agencies in evaluating various options as they devise strategies to rehabilitate depleted forests.
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Often the information we need to make informed decisions about where to deploy reforestation already exists, it’s just scattered across a lot of different locations.
by Susan Cook-Patton, a Senior Forest Restoration Scientist at the Nature Conservancy.
Scientists already knew that restoring forest cover affects the albedo, which is the amount of incoming solar radiation reflected back from the Earth’s surface. Using new maps, they were able to quantify for the first time both the cooling effect of trees and the warming effect caused by reduced albedo.
They found that failing to account for albedo led to an overestimation of the climate benefits of additional trees by 20 to 80%. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers seeking to maximize the climate impact of future tree-planting efforts and avoid planting trees in less-than-ideal locations.
…we tried to bring this information together to develop a menu of options for reforestation, allowing people to choose what they would like to see in their community, state, or nation.
The highest albedo is found in frozen regions, where snow and ice reflect up to 90% of solar energy, contributing significantly to cooling the Earth. This is one of the main factors for cooling the Earth, alongside land and oceans, which absorb excess heat and emit greenhouse gases that warm the planet. More people are promising to plant billions of trees to prevent global warming. However, all the efforts may not yield the same results for the planet due to differences in soil composition, tree height, leaves thickness, crown permeability, low-growing plants, and other factors.
The choice to plant trees really depends on what people want out of the landscape, whether it’s controlling flood waters, improving urban environments, or recovering forests after a fire.
by Susan Cook-Patton, a Senior Forest Restoration Scientist at the Nature Conservancy
Lush, tropical forests like the Amazon and Congo Basin have high absorption of carbon dioxide levels and no significant changes in albedo. This makes the regions prime targets for restoration efforts. Conversely, grassy areas and savannas in Mediterranean regions experience changes in albedo. Even the most promising restoration targets may provide 20% less cooling than expected due to changes in albedo, researchers have found.
Restoring ecosystems has immeasurable benefits, including supporting biodiversity and ensuring clean air and water for all.
Learning more about how climate changes, between seasons, between years or epochs, makes us understand ecosystems better.
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