DW Podcasts | Why planting more trees won’t save us from climate change – On the Green Fence @dw_podcasts | Uploaded May 2024 | Updated October 2024, 13 hours ago.
#trees #climatechange #carboncapture #forests
Episode 3: Why planting more trees won’t save us from climate change
Trees are seen as powerful allies in the fight against global heating because they can trap carbon dioxide and lock it away.
The world’s forests store around 16 million metric tons of CO2 each year – a little over three times what European countries emit annually. But forested areas are shrinking at an alarming rate, mainly due to the expansion of agriculture. And when trees are cut down, much of the carbon they’re storing gets released into the atmosphere.
In a bid to offset the damage, dozens of initiatives have sprouted up in recent decades seeking to plant billions of trees to suck CO2 from the air. But restoring forests is a complex business, and planting new trees can sometimes do more harm than good.
Interviewees featured in this episode:
Kate Hardwick, coordinator for Millennium Seed Bank Partnership at the UK’s Royal Botanical Gardens
Susan Cook-Patton, senior forest restoration scientist at The Nature Conservancy
On the Green Fence is produced by DW studios in Bonn, Germany.
Connect with us here:
Instagram - @dw_environment
Twitter - @dw_environment
Facebook - DW Global Ideas
TikTok - @dw_planeta
Website - dw.com/en/on-the-green-fence/program-49760682
Thanks for listening and subscribing!
pod.link/onthegreenfence
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:43 Climate change is making forests more vulnerable
02:46 Kate Hardwick’s take on how forests are being managed
04:37 Is reforestation the solution?
06:04 When does planting trees make sense?
07:24 When has reforestation gone horribly wrong?
08:25 What can we do better?
10:25 How do we know which tree species will survive?
11:36 Which tree species will go extinct?
13:30 Forests as carbon sinks
14:43 How much CO2 could be captured by planting new trees?
17:10 Which tree-planting campaigns can make a difference?
19:16 Which trees are effective at locking down CO2?
21:41 Does it makes sense for humans to get involved?
23:04 Growing demand for wood
24:04 Which tree would you plant?
25:31 Neil’s takeaways
#trees #climatechange #carboncapture #forests
Episode 3: Why planting more trees won’t save us from climate change
Trees are seen as powerful allies in the fight against global heating because they can trap carbon dioxide and lock it away.
The world’s forests store around 16 million metric tons of CO2 each year – a little over three times what European countries emit annually. But forested areas are shrinking at an alarming rate, mainly due to the expansion of agriculture. And when trees are cut down, much of the carbon they’re storing gets released into the atmosphere.
In a bid to offset the damage, dozens of initiatives have sprouted up in recent decades seeking to plant billions of trees to suck CO2 from the air. But restoring forests is a complex business, and planting new trees can sometimes do more harm than good.
Interviewees featured in this episode:
Kate Hardwick, coordinator for Millennium Seed Bank Partnership at the UK’s Royal Botanical Gardens
Susan Cook-Patton, senior forest restoration scientist at The Nature Conservancy
On the Green Fence is produced by DW studios in Bonn, Germany.
Connect with us here:
Instagram - @dw_environment
Twitter - @dw_environment
Facebook - DW Global Ideas
TikTok - @dw_planeta
Website - dw.com/en/on-the-green-fence/program-49760682
Thanks for listening and subscribing!
pod.link/onthegreenfence
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:43 Climate change is making forests more vulnerable
02:46 Kate Hardwick’s take on how forests are being managed
04:37 Is reforestation the solution?
06:04 When does planting trees make sense?
07:24 When has reforestation gone horribly wrong?
08:25 What can we do better?
10:25 How do we know which tree species will survive?
11:36 Which tree species will go extinct?
13:30 Forests as carbon sinks
14:43 How much CO2 could be captured by planting new trees?
17:10 Which tree-planting campaigns can make a difference?
19:16 Which trees are effective at locking down CO2?
21:41 Does it makes sense for humans to get involved?
23:04 Growing demand for wood
24:04 Which tree would you plant?
25:31 Neil’s takeaways
