Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash

By Patryk Krych | The World Daily | MAY 26th 2022 

According to a UK forestry industry body, the tree-planting efforts being set in motion in Northern Ireland will have to triple in order to meet the officially set-down targets. However, with tree-planting drives set to take place all around the globe on World Environment Day, on June 5, doubts have been sprouted by recent research exploring the dangers of such mass tree-planting.

The new research from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) suggests that government and NGO-organised mass tree planting efforts may not be quite as effective at achieving the environmental benefits we so desire. 

Many of those, such as the upcoming tree-planting drives on June 5, are organised in order to help fight and counter the effects of climate change. However, in doing so, it may bring rise to other environmental problems, if done without the proper process and research.

“Afforestation is considered a silver bullet solution with the potential to address climate change and ecological degradation,” said policy analyst at the Centre for Policy Design at ATREE, Anuja Malhotra. “However, if afforestation is carried out without considering the local socio-ecological context, it can do more harm than good.”

Such details are crucial for consideration, especially with such countries as China recently pledging to plant and conserve at least 70 billion trees by the year 2030, despite the doubts of sceptics, who cite the country’s long history of wanton pollution.

“Planting trees does attract some species of birds and insects, but if the wrong species are planted in the wrong places, it has the potential to disrupt locally adapted species,” the study read. “This is especially true for open natural ecosystems such as savannas and deserts. For example, species such as the great Indian bustard, lesser florican, and many others tend to be negatively impacted by the loss of grassland habitats.”