When planting trees threatens the forest
Poorly designed tree-planting campaigns could do more harm than good


Date:
June 22, 2020
Source:
Stanford University
Summary:
The first-of-its-kind study reveals that subsidies for the planting
of commercially valuable tree plantations in Chile resulted in the
loss of biologically valuable natural forests and little, if any,
additional carbon sequestration.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Campaigns to plant huge numbers of trees could backfire, according to a
new study that is the first to rigorously analyze the potential effects
of subsidies in such schemes.


==========================================================================
The analysis, published on June 22 in Nature Sustainability, reveals
how efforts such as the global Trillion Trees campaign and a related
initiative (H.

R. 5859) under consideration by the U.S. Congress could lead to
more biodiversity loss and little, if any, climate change upside. The researchers emphasize, however, that these efforts could have significant benefits if they include strong subsidy restrictions, such as prohibitions against replacing native forests with tree plantations.

"If policies to incentivize tree plantations are poorly designed or poorly enforced, there is a high risk of not only wasting public money but also releasing more carbon and losing biodiversity," said study co-author
Eric Lambin, the George and Setsuko Ishiyama Provostial Professor in
Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. "That's
the exact opposite of what these policies are aiming for." There is
no question that forests have an outsized role to play in efforts to
slow global biodiversity loss and combat climate change by sequestering
carbon as biomass. So it makes sense that tree-planting as a solution
has gained traction in recent years with ambitious commitments, such
as the Bonn Challenge, which seeks to restore an area of forest more
than eight times the size of California by 2030, and Trillion Trees,
which seeks to plant as many trees as its name implies.

A closer look reveals faults in the optimistic plans. For example,
nearly 80 percent of commitments to the Bonn Challenge involve planting monoculture tree plantations or a limited mix of trees that produce
products such as fruit and rubber rather than restoring natural
forests. Plantations typically have significantly less potential for
carbon sequestration, habitat creation and erosion control than natural forests. The potential benefit dwindles further if planted trees replace natural forests, grasslands or savannahs -- ecosystems that have evolved
to support unique, local biodiversity.

In the new study, the researchers critically examined another aspect
of some mass-tree planting efforts: subsidies designed to encourage
private landowners to plant trees. Such payments are widely proposed
as a promising solution to a variety of environmental challenges. So,
the scientists looked at one of the world's longest running and most influential afforestation subsidy policies, Chile's Decree Law 701. The
law, in effect from 1974 to 2012 and currently being considered for reintroduction, has served as the model for similar policies in a number
of South American countries and international development projects.

"In light of global enthusiasm to plant a trillion trees, it's important
to reflect on the impact of past policies," said lead author Robert
Heilmayr, an assistant professor at UCSB, who worked on the study while
a PhD student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment
and Resources at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental
Sciences. "Chile's experience can help us understand the climate,
ecological and economic impacts that might occur when governments pay landowners to establish massive tree plantations." Chile's Decree Law
701 subsidized 75 percent of afforestation costs and provided support for ongoing plantation management. Lax enforcement and budgetary limitations hobbled prohibitions on the use of subsidies on already- forested lands, leading to situations in which the government subsidized the replacement
of native forests with profitable tree plantations. Anecdotal evidence indicated the law's subsidies further reduced native forest cover by encouraging the establishment of plantations on shrublands or marginal agricultural lands where forests might have naturally regenerated.

The researchers set out to quantify the full impact of the afforestation subsidies and calculate their effects on net carbon and biodiversity
changes across the entire country. They compared the area of Chilean
forests under three scenarios: actual observed subsidy patterns, no
subsidies and subsidies combined with fully enforced restrictions on the conversion of native forests to plantations. They found that, relative
to a scenario of no subsidies, afforestation payments expanded the area
covered by trees, but decreased the area of native forests. Since Chile's native forests are more carbon dense and biodiverse than plantations,
the subsidies failed to increase carbon storage, and accelerated
biodiversity losses.

"Nations should design and enforce their forest subsidy policies to avoid
the undesirable ecological impacts that resulted from Chile's program,"
said study coauthor Cristian Echeverri'a, a professor at the University
of Concepcio'n in Chile. "Future subsidies should seek to promote the
recovery of the many carbon- and biodiversity-rich natural ecosystems
that have been lost."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Stanford_University. Original written
by Rob Jordan.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Robert Heilmayr, Cristian Echeverri'a, Eric F. Lambin. Impacts
of Chilean
forest subsidies on forest cover, carbon and biodiversity. Nature
Sustainability, 2020; DOI: 10.1038/s41893-020-0547-0 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200622133012.htm

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