Funding decisions under the federal program were largely driven by simplistic considerations, such as the cost of each tree, rather than benefits to threatened species.
Trees are rooted to the ground — but they move into new areas as the wind carries their seeds or seedlings are planted.
(Shutterstock)
Claudio Mura, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC); Patricia Raymond, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC), and Sergio Rossi, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)
The rapidly changing climate presents many challenges for the sustainability of forest ecosystems. Assisting the migration of trees is a tool to address these challenges.
Over 50 fire ecologists across the Western U.S. took an unprecedented look at how forests in thousands of locations are recovering from fire in a changing climate. The results were alarming.
The pledge to end deforestation holds great potential, but Canada has some work ahead if it is to make meaningful progress on the new goal and stop ongoing forest and carbon loss.
Planting trees can sometimes be a carbon-offset box-ticking exercise, but reforestation is a long-term commitment that supports communities, promotes biodiversity and tackles the climate emergency.
Aerial view of native seedlings for forest restoration at the the Instituto Terra, Aimores, Brazil.
Christian Ender/Getty Images
Large-scale tree-planting projects are politically popular and media-friendly, but without effective planning and long-term management, they can do more harm than good.
A tropical rainforest in South America.
Shutterstock/BorneoRimbawan
Large areas targeted for forest restoration in Africa are covered by savanna and grassland, which provide important ecosystem services that would be lost should they be converted to forests.