Nations of the world are committed to restoring forests covering an area the size of India to soak up carbon dioxide and combat climate change. But British scientists have identified a serious flaw in the plan.
Many of them, including Brazil, China and India, have already committed to 292 million hectares of new canopy. But in their analysis of the plans published so far, the scientists say that only 34 per cent of this accumulated area would go back to natural forest.
Another 45 per cent would be covered by plantations of one species harvested for biomass or timber, and 21 per cent would be devoted to agroforestry: a mix of crops sheltered by stands of woodland.
To most people, forest restoration means bringing back natural forests, but policy makers are calling vast monocultures ‘forest restoration’.