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The Climate Question: Have we planted too much faith in trees?

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21/02/2021 GMT

Have we planted too much faith in trees?

BBC World Service - The Climate Question, Have we planted too much faith in trees?

A warming world may mean trees can’t do their job as effectively

Forests are often touted as a natural fix for climate change, but a warming world may mean trees can’t do their job as effectively.

It seems we all love trees. Politicians, celebrities and big businesses love trees too. They’re seen as a natural climate fix because they eat carbon dioxide, one of the main gases that cause global warming. 

The number of trees pledged in the coming years runs into the billions. Pakistan wants to plant more than three billion trees in the next couple of years. Ethiopia claims to have planted 350 million in one day! Neal Razzell and Graihagh Jackson try to see the wood from the trees amongst all these claims, and discover that a ‘forest’ planting campaign doesn't always end up creating the natural woodland we imagine it to be. 

And to add to the urgency of the climate crisis, there's a new problem - a warming world may mean plants can’t suck up our carbon dioxide as effectively. Have we planted too much faith in trees? 
 
Experts:
Dr Kate Hardwick, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew 
Prof Pedro Brancalion, professor of forest sciences at the University of São Paulo 
Dr Ben Ben Poulter, NASA Goddard Space Centre  
Rafael Bitante, SoS Mata Atlantica Project 

Producer: Jordan Dunbar (London), Jessica Cruz (Sao Paulo) 
Researcher: Soila Apparicio 
Editor: Penny Murphy

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