This Bloomberg article discusses an easy climate change fix – plant trees. A new analysis finds nations could be growing forests where they aren’t, removing millions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere. A simple climate fix may be hiding in plain sight: some 3.5 million square miles of land capable of supporting new forests and removing 750 billion tons of CO2 from the air. The amount raises the potential upper bound for carbon renewal enough to make international reforestation goals “undoubtedly achievable,” according to new research published in the Journal Science.
This article discusses two studies that provide dueling looks at where trees should go. One study, published in Science, found that the globe contains a U.S.-sized area of unforested land capable of growing trees, and those trees could, in theory, soak up two thirds of humanity’s carbon emissions to date. The other, published in Science Advances, analyzed the tropics only and arrived at a slightly smaller area estimate, but also suggested “restoration hotspots” where bringing back forests is most affordable and likely to succeed.