Forestation is a widely known traditional concept of planting trees, however to appreciate its significance it is important to know the deeper meaning of the two types & the large intangible impacts they offer!
Reforestation Vs Afforestation
Reforestation refers to plantation of trees or allowing trees to regrow on land that had recently been covered with forest (typically for at least 50 years).
Afforestation involves planting trees on land that has not recently been covered with forest (typically in the last 50 years).
Both reforestation & afforestation enhance the terrestrial carbon sink, thereby slowing accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere. Forestation can provide many benefits, which depend on exactly how it is done. Reforestation provides far greater ecological and biodiversity benefits than a monoculture tree plantation does.
History:
For 360 million years, trees have grown and been felled through a dynamic mix of hurricanes, fires and natural regeneration. But with the dawn of the 17th century, humans began replacing the large swathes of forest with farms and cities. The Earth’s forests have been changing ever since the first tree took root.
Since 1990, it is estimated that we have lost 420 million hectares of forest (land area 13393 million hectares) through conversion to other land uses, although the rate of deforestation has decreased over the past three decades.
Surprising how COVID has changed the dynamics of forestation!
The graph clearly indicates the increased green cover across the globe & wonder hos is that possible!?
Iceland’s second COVID-19 economic stimulus package, has announced USD 3.7 million funding for addressing climate change through land reclamation projects, land quality recovery and creating new birch forests (Musto, 2020).
India announced funding of INR 60 billion, to be approved under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) to generate employment through afforestation and forest restoration activities in urban, semi-urban and rural areas (GoI-PIB, 2020).
Jharkhand in eastern India has created a new afforestation-based income-generation program to provide jobs for migrant workers (Mukesh, 2020), under which 500,000 families will each be provided with 100 fruit-bearing trees, saplings and plants over the next 5 years.
Climate Action, Corporate Sustainability & CSR:
SEBI has introduced Business Responsibility & Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) which includes a financial & non-financial disclosure, including material Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) risks and opportunities, their approach to mitigate the risks or adapt to them, and the financial implications involved in this process. Climate action tops the list of concern for every sector of operations. Majority of Indian corporations are taking up plantation initiatives under their flagship CSR projects and/or Corporate Sustainability targets like Net Zero or Carbon Neutrality.
Several businesses have introduced cost of carbon into decision making process by carrying out Carbon Footprint Inventorization. Subject Specialist & Firms including EcoMorphosys are thus helping Corporates & Institutions calculate their Carbon emissions across Scope 1, 2 &3 emissions and providing strategic solutions to reduce them.
Forests are more than just trees:
Reforestation has been recognized as a top climate change solution, and now more than ever we need to work together to restore forests around the globe. Hence forest departments, municipalities, corporates, NGOs and community based organizations can relook into their plantation strategy & make the long impacting decisions that our future generations will need as a basic amenity.
Reforestation should be a priority for all Sustainability & Net-zero Initiatives,
as forests are home to over
80% of terrestrial biodiversity,
80% of amphibians,
75% of birds and
68% of mammals.
absorb 1/3rd of annual GHG emissions
Deforestation of some tropical forests could lead to the loss of as many as 100 species a day. Our ability to stop biodiversity loss is heavily dependent on our ability to stop forest loss.
Additional Reads:
Top Indian Companies Target Net-Zero Carbon Emissions By 2050 - https://www.indiainfoline.com/article/news-top-story/top-indian-companies-target-net-zero-carbon-emissions-by-2050-122101700017_1.html
Forests: at the heart of a green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/publication/PB_80.pdf
Picture Credit:
Priyanka Desh, EcoMorphosys