I heard that the U.N. planted over 1 billion trees so far this year. How much does that help the global clim-

Question

ate situation?

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/11/28/tree-planting-forests.html

Answer 1

It depends on where it is. In the north, trees absorb more heat than snow and increase global warming. The trees will eventually die and decompose to CO2 so wheres the advantage. I like the idea of increasing the biomass even though the impact on global warming is probably nearly zero. You would probably be better off fertilizing the oceans to increase biomass.

Answer 2

Its a good thought, however, not all of these countries have a good post planting monitoring system in place. The soviets were very well known for sinking money into national projects with no real benefit. China has been doing lots of plantings in the past decades. In the beginning, planters were paid for each seedling the "Planted". So, what motivation did they have to see that these seedlings lived long enough to become trees? None. As a consequence, many of these trees were literally dumped, by the truck load, in some ditch somewhere. As far as their government was concerned, they got planted. Those that did get planted, weren't cared for or managed properly afterward. New systems have been developed to provide incentives to keep trees alive, not just plant them. But I'm not convinced that all these countries have successfully done this.

Especially in third world countries like Ethiopia. The number one use for trees in places like this is for fuel and charcoal (cooking and heat). Chances are, lots of these trees wont live much past 10 years old before they are cut down and used for fuel. Which is fine as far as I'm concerned, if they are sustainability harvested in their harvesting. But there wont be much net gain in carbon sequestration.

http://www.biyokulule.com/Charcoal%20trade.htm

Answer 3

That's great. It's good to see that other countries are planting trees. If they take care of them, they should help clean the air while the world finds a cleaner source of energy. The trees should improve the land and provide habitat for wildlife as well.

Answer 4

It's good for preserving habitats and providing a resource to help relieve global poverty. It also allows countries to meet their Kyoto protocol while still increasing their emissions.

It's hard to say whether the short term carbon sink of trees will have a meaningful impact on atmospheric CO2.

Answer 5

We have been planting millions of trees every year in the U. S. for years and years. No one ever mentions that fact. Our forestry management is one of the best in the world.

Answer 6

Yes. What they don't tell you is that the UN pays countries to plant trees. So these countries first deforest land to sell the trees then they go to the UN to ask for money to replant the forest.

Sadly this perverted logic is used elsewhere. The UN pays countries to remove co2 and other pollution. This motivates countries to produce more co2 and pollution so it can be removed in order to collect money from the UN.

Answer 7

It depends on where. Every small part helps out. Do you part to.

Answer 8

a lot but we need to stop cutting down tress like in clear cutting

Answer 9

hardly