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Reforestation is the practice of restoring previously existing and that have been destroyed or damaged. The prior forest destruction might have happened through deforestation, clearcutting or . Three important purposes of reforestation programs are for Forestry, for climate change mitigation, and for ecosystem and habitat restoration purposes. One method of reforestation is to establish , also called plantation forests. They cover about 131 million ha worldwide, which is 3% of the global forest area and 45% of the total area of planted forests.
Globally, planted forests increased from 4.1% to 7.0% of the total forest area between 1990 and 2015. Plantation forests made up 280 million ha (hectare) in 2015, an increase of about 40 million ha in the previous ten years. Of the planted forests worldwide, 18% of that area consists of exotic or introduced species while the rest consist of species native to the country where they are planted.
There are limitations and challenges with reforestation projects, especially if they are in the form of tree plantations. Firstly, there can be competition with other land uses and displacement risk. Secondly, tree plantations are often which comes with a set of disadvantages, for example biodiversity loss. Lastly, there is also the problem that Carbon sink is released at some point.
The effects of reforestation will be farther in the future than those of proforestation (the conservation of intact forests). Instead of planting entirely new areas, it might be better to reconnect forested areas and restore the edges of forest. This protects their mature core and makes them more resilient and longer-lasting. It takes much longer − several decades − for the carbon sequestration benefits of reforestation to become similar to those from mature trees in . Therefore, reducing deforestation is usually more beneficial for climate change mitigation than is reforestation.
Many countries carry out reforestation programs. For example, in China, the Three Northern Protected Forest Development Program – informally known as the "Great Green Wall" – was launched in 1978 and scheduled to last until 2050. It aims to eventually plant nearly 90 million acres of new forest in a 2,800-mile stretch of northern China. Such programs often blur the boundaries between reforestation and afforestation (the latter being the establishment of a forest in an area where there was no forest before).
According to FAO terminology, reforestation is defined as the re-establishment of forest through planting and/or deliberate seeding on land classified as forest.
Afforestation on the other hand means establishing new forest on lands that were not forest before (for example, abandoned agriculture). It is the process of restoring and recreating areas of or that may have existed long ago but were deforestation or otherwise removed at some point in the past or lacked it naturally (for example, natural ).
Reforestation, if several Native plant are used, can provide other benefits in addition to financial returns, including restoration of the soil, rejuvenation of local flora and fauna, and the capturing and sequestering of 38 of carbon dioxide per hectare per year.
Over 90% of the world's forests regenerate organically, and more than half are covered by forest management plans or equivalents.
Globally, planted forests increased from 4.1% to 7.0% of the total forest area between 1990 and 2015. Plantation forests made up 280 million ha (hectare) in 2015, an increase of about 40 million ha in the previous ten years. (2025). 9789251092835, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251092835 Of the planted forests worldwide, 18% of that planted area consists of exotic or introduced species while the rest consist of species native to the country where they are planted.
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Wayback Machine: While this method has existed for centuries, it is now sometimes referred to as farmer-managed natural regeneration or assisted natural regeneration.
Some incentives for reforestation can be as simple as a financial compensation. A compensated reduction of deforestation approach has been proposed which would reward developing countries that disrupt any further act of deforestation: Countries that participate and take the option to reduce their emissions from deforestation during a committed period of time would receive financial compensation for the carbon dioxide emissions that they avoided. To raise the payments, the host country would issue government bonds or negotiate some kind of loan with a financial institution that would want to take part in the compensation promised to the other country. The funds received by the country could be invested to help find alternatives to the extensive cutdown of forests. This whole process of cutting emissions would be voluntary, but once the country has agreed to lower their emissions they would be obligated to reduce their emissions. However, if a country was not able to meet their obligation, their target would get added to their next commitment period. The authors of these proposals see this as a solely government-to-government agreement; private entities would not participate in the compensation trades.
Another emerging revenue source to fund reforestation projects deals with the sale of carbon sequestration credits, which can be sold to companies and individuals looking to compensate their carbon footprint. This approach allows for private landowners and farmers to gain a revenue from the reforestation of their lands, while simultaneously benefiting from improved soil health and increased productivity.
Alongside past financial incentive strategies, reforestation tax benefits have been another way the government has encouraged companies to promote reforestation tactics through the promises of a tax break.
As many landholders seek to earn carbon credits through sequestration, their participation also encourages biodiversity and provides ecosystem services for crops and livestock.
A study found that almost 300 million people live on tropical forest restoration opportunity land in the Global South, constituting a large share of low-income countries' populations, and argues for prioritized inclusion of "local communities" in forest restoration projects.
There are calls for a more selective approach to identifying reforestation areas, taking into account the possible displacement of customary land uses.
The effects reforestation has on biodiversity is not limited to just other forms of vegetation, it can affect all forms of living organisms all contained in the present ecosystem. Due to the major role trees have on ecosystems it is important to better understand components like the ecosystem, waterways, and species present in areas that are being re-planted. Prior research helps limit the depletion of biodiversity which can hinder medicinal discoveries, and alter gene flow in organisms.
A debated issue in managed reforestation is whether the succeeding forest will have the same biodiversity as the original forest. If the forest is replaced with only one species of tree and all other vegetation is prevented from growing back, a monoculture forest similar to agricultural crops would be the result. However, most reforestation involves the planting of different selections of seedlings taken from the area, often of multiple species.
Also the possible harvesting and utilization of wood from reforested areas, limits the permanence of carbon sequestered through reforestation. For example, it was found that nearly half of the pledges under the Bonn Challenge were areas earmarked for commercial wood use.
Additionally the effects of afforestation and reforestation will be farther in the future than those of proforestation (the conservation of intact forests). It takes much longer − several decades − for the benefits for global warming to manifest to the same carbon sequestration benefits from mature trees in tropical forests and hence from limiting deforestation.
Some researchers note that instead of planting entirely new areas, reconnecting forested areas and restoring the edges of forest, to protect their mature core and make them more resilient and longer-lasting, should be prioritized.
China has introduced the Green Wall of China project, which aims to halt the expansion of the Gobi Desert through the planting of trees. There has been a 47-million-hectare increase in forest area in China since the 1970s.James Owen, "World's Forests Rebounding, Study Suggests". National Geographic News, 13 November 2006. The total number of trees amounted to be about 35 billion and 4.55% of China's land mass increased in forest coverage. The forest coverage was 12% in the early 1980s and had reached 16.55% by 2001.Gittings, John (20 March 2001). "Battling China's Deforestation". The Guardian.
China announced two large reforestation programs, the Natural Forest Protection Program and the Returning Farmland to Forest program, in late 1998. The programs were piloted in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu in 1999. They became widely implemented in 2000. The Natural Forest Protection Program called for major reductions in timber harvest, forest conservation, and instituted logging bans in most of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Tibet. The program provided for alternative employment opportunities for former logging industry workers, including hiring them for reforestation work. The Returning Farmland to Forest program paid farmers to plant trees on less productive farmland and provided them with a yearly subsidy for lost income. In 2015 China announced a plan to plant 26 billion trees by the year 2025; that is, two trees for every Chinese citizen per year.
Between 2013 and 2018, China planted 338,000 square kilometres of forests, at a cost of $82.88 billion. By 2018, 21.7% of China's territory was covered by forests, a figure the government wants to increase to 26% by 2035. The total area of China is 9,596,961 square kilometres (see China), so 412,669 square kilometres more needs to be planted. According to the government's plan, by 2050, 30% of China's territory should be covered by forests.
In 2017, the Saihanba Afforestation Community won the UN Champions of the Earth Award in the Inspiration and Action category for their successful reforestation efforts, which began upon discovering the survival of a single tree.
From 2016 to 2021, 3976 square kilometers of forests were planted in the Tibet Autonomous Region, with plans for 20 million trees to be planted before 2023.
In the years 2012–2022 China restored more than of forests. China committed to plant and conserve 70 billion trees by the year 2030 as part of the Trillion Tree Campaign.
The Jane Goodall Institute launched the Million Tree Project in Kulun Qi, Inner Mongolia to plant one million trees. China used 24 million hectares of new forest to offset 21% of Chinese fossil fuel emissions in 2000.
The Chinese government requires mining companies to restore the environment around exhausted mines by refilling excavated pits and planting crops or trees. Many mining companies use these recovered mines for ecotourism business.
Launched in 1978 and scheduled to last until 2050, the Three Northern Protected Forest Development Program – informally known as the "Great Green Wall" – aims to eventually plant nearly 90 million acres of new forest in a 2,800-mile stretch of northern China.
Over 69.3 million hectares of forest were planted across China from 1999 to 2013. This large-scale reforestation contributed to China's forests sequestering 1.11 ± 0.38 Gt carbon per yr over the period 2010 to 2016. This amounted to about 45 percent of the yearly greenhouse gas emissions during that period in China.
Mass environmental and human-body pollution along with related deforestation, water pollution, smoke damage, and loss of soils caused by mining operations in Ashio, Tochigi became the first environmental social issue in Japan. Efforts by Shōzō Tanaka had grown to large campaigns against the copper operation. This led to the creation of 'Watarase River Yusuichi Pond', to settle the pollution which is a Ramsar site today. Reforestation was conducted as a part of afforestation due to inabilities of self-recovering by the natural land itself due to serious soil pollution and loss of woods consequence in loss of soils for plants to grow, thus needing artificial efforts involving introducing of healthy soils from outside. Starting from around 1897, about 50% of once bald mountains are now back to green.
In 2018, Pakistan's prime minister Imran Khan declared that the country will plant 10 billion trees in the next five years.
In 2020, the Pakistani government launched an initiative to hire 63,600 laborers to plant trees in the northern Punjab region, with indigenous species such as acacia, mulberry and moringa. This initiative was meant to alleviate unemployment caused by lockdowns to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
My Forest Armenia was founded in 2019 and has since planted 910,000 trees in Armenia.
Ireland is also driven to increase sustainable timber consumption while also adding more eco friendly work positions. They also have taken efforts to limit the use of methane emissions by signing a pledge to draw back methane use by 30%.
Reforestation is required as part of the federal forest law. 31% of Germany is forested, according to the second forest inventory of 2001–2003. The size of the forest area in Germany increased between the first and the second forest inventory due to forestation of degenerated and agricultural areas.
Israel and only one other country was documented to have a net increase of forestation in the 2000s. This type of progress could be attributed to the social practices that Israel incorporates into their society.
Law No. 558, which was ratified by the Lebanese Parliament on April 19, 1996, aims to protect and expand existing forests, classifying all forests of cedar, fir, high juniper, evergreen cypress and other trees, whether diverse or homogeneous, whether state-owned or not as conserved forests.
Since 2011 more than 600,000 trees, including cedars and other native species, have been planted throughout Lebanon as part of the Lebanon Reforestation Initiative, which aims to restore Lebanon's native forests. Projects financed locally and by international charity are performing extensive reforestation of cedar being carried out in the Mediterranean region, particularly in Lebanon and Turkey, where over 50 million young cedars are being planted annually.
The Lebanon Reforestation Initiative has been working with tree nurseries throughout Lebanon since 2012 to grow stronger seedlings with higher survival rates.
Four thousand years ago, Anatolia was 60% to 70% forested. Although the flora of Turkey remains more biodiverse than many European countries, deforestation occurred during both prehistoric and historic times, including the Ancient Rome and Ottoman Empire periods.
Since the first forest code of 1937, the official government definition of 'forest' has varied. According to the current definition, 21 million hectares are forested, an increase of about 1 million hectares over the past thirty years, but only about half is 'productive'. However, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization definition of forest, about 12 million hectares was forested in 2015, about 15% of the land surface.
The amount of greenhouse gas emissions by Turkey removed by forests is very uncertain.Turkish Greenhouse Gas Inventory report (2019), zip file, however, a new assessment is being made with the help of satellites and new soil measurements and better information should be available by 2020. According to the World Resources Institute "Atlas of Forest Landscape Restoration Opportunities", 50 million hectares are potential forest land, a similar area to the ancient Anatolian forest mentioned above. This could help limit climate change in Turkey. To help preserve the biodiversity of Turkey, more sustainable forestry has been suggested. Improved rangeland management is also needed.
National Forestation Day is on 11 November but, according to the agriculture and forestry trade union, although volunteers planted a record number of trees in 2019, most had died by 2020 in part due to lack of rainfall.
As for the year 2020, the U.S. planted 2.5 billion trees per year. At the beginning of the year 2020, a bill that will increase the number to 3.3 billion, was proposed by the Republican Party, after President Donald Trump joined the Trillion Tree Campaign.
Costa Rica has a long-standing commitment to the environment. The country is now one of the leaders of sustainability, biodiversity, and other protections. It wants to be completely fossil fuel free by 2050. The country has generated all of its electric power from renewable sources for three years as of 2019. It has committed to be carbon-free and plastic-free by 2021.
As of 2019, half of the country's land surface is covered with forests. They absorb a huge amount of carbon dioxide, combating climate change.
In the 1940s, more than 75% of the country was covered in mostly tropical rainforests and other indigenous woodlands. Between the 1940s and 1980s, extensive, uncontrolled logging led to severe deforestation. By 1983, only 26% of the country had forest cover. Realizing the devastation, policymakers took a stand. Through a continued environmental focus they were able to turn things around to the point that today forest cover has increased to 52%, two times more than 1983 levels.
An honorable world leader for ecotourism and conservation, Costa Rica has pioneered the development of payments for environmental services. Costa Rica's extensive system of environmental protection has been encouraging conservation and reforestation of the land by providing grants for environmental services. The system is not just advanced for its time but is also unparalleled in the world. It received great international attention.
Costa Rica doubled its forest cover in 30 years using its system of grants and other payments for environmental services, including compensation for landowners. One of the main programs established in Costa Rica was the Forest Promotion Certificate in 1979 and is funded by international donations and nationwide taxes. The initiative is helping to protect the forests in the country, and is now helped pass both the Forest Law in 1986 and FONAFIFO in 1990 which insures the continuity of the conservation programs.
Costa Rica's ambitious reforestation initiatives have transformed the landscape, fostering biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and sustainable land management practices.
Reforestation initiatives have expanded in the country since. In Peru, reforestation is essential to preserving the livelihoods of rural communities because much of the population relies on the forest in some way. Deforestation also disproportionally affects indigenous communities in Peru, which is why reforestation efforts are essential for the protection of many communities' livelihoods.
In 2019, Ethiopia begun a massive tree planting campaign "Green Legacy" with a target to plant 4 billion trees in one year. In one day only, over 350 million trees were planted.
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