The rate of global deforestation may soon be approaching zero. Yes - you heard me correctly: the total number of trees in the world may soon be on the rise, rather than on the decline. According to some climatologists, we may even have already moved past this point and into a phase of global reforestation.
Isn’t that amazing?!! If you’re like me and you follow news about climate change, then there often seems to be little cause for celebration. However, when I came upon this fact in the book Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn, I had to re-read the passage a couple of times to be sure I wasn’t mistaken.
Of course, before we explore what this fact means, I need to stress that it doesn’t mean that the Amazon rain forest isn’t shrinking. Nor many of the other large rain forests around the world. Nor does it mean that CO2 levels are not still increasing at an alarming rate. But - and it’s a significant but - it does mean that there are some things we can feel positive about. Let me explain.
Nature is an amazingly resilient and powerful. Just as deforestation cuts its way through Amazon, other forests around the world are fighting back.
A few years ago the world crossed an important milestone - for the first time in history, more humans lived in cities than in rural areas. And as much of the world continues this march towards urbanization, where people migrate from countryside to a life in the city, millions of hectares of land becomes abandoned. Where humanity retreats, nature advances.
Due to economics, farmland throughout Germany, Scotland, Russia and Eastern Europe is being abandoned year on year. Farmhouses, homesteads and estates are just being left by their owners because no-one wants to buy the land. And over time, a process called succession takes hold. Nature sweeps into the ordered fields and meadows.
First the weeds, wild flowers and grasses - little persistent roots that can prise up tarmac and splinter cement. Next, the pervasive shrubs like gorse, brambles and ferns gain a foothold. Then over time the pioneer trees begin to take residence. Pines, Beeches, Willow. Over a few decades, if no-one buys the land and clears it of vegetation, a new forest will emerge.
Once a forest has taken root, the land becomes even less valuable for property developers. To do anything with the land will take serious investment to clear the trees. Thus, we are finding that millions upon millions of trees are sweeping across developed countries, countering the effects of rain forest depletion, simply as a side effect of global economics.
When I learned of this fact, I couldn’t quite believe it. Surely with more people than ever in the world, we need as much land for agriculture as possible. Not so, it would seem. The world’s population can at present be fed by a much more modest area of land than is popularly believed. And as farming becomes more informed and efficient (and I don’t simply mean mono-culture farming, as this can be a big problem for the climate), we may be able to support more humans without having to eat into existing wild land and ecosystems.
Climate change is still a huge problem to be tackled, but it’s so nice to hear a little good news. Climatologists forecast that soon, the world will be on a path to net reforestation. This is huge.
The downside is that some of the oldest, most precious forests, such as the Amazon, are still being cut down at an alarming rate. This is in large part due to the political landscape of Brazil. Perhaps in time a new forward-looking leader will decide that cutting down one of the world’s most diverse ecosystems is not beneficial. But until then, let’s take solace in nature’s power to fight back.
Forests can and do heal. The vast forests of Bavaria in Germany show that, contrary to popular belief, these are not all ancient forests, but largely a recent addition to the landscape. Within the forests you can still find ruins of farmhouses and long stone walls that were abandoned one or two hundred years ago.
An addition to this, there are fantastic reforestation programs being run by charities and organizations across the world. One being the amazing cross-continental African project called the Great Green Wall. It aims to create an unbroken corridor of forest that stretches from one coast to the other, an effort to stop desertification. It will be 15 km wide and 7,800 km long. This is a huge undertaking and has required the cooperation of many countries. It is being seen as a beautiful gesture of peace, and also what can be achieved if we put our minds to it.
It’s always important to remember that it’s not all bad news. There are always the green shoots of hope to cling onto.
Image credits: Nejc Košir, André Cook and Yaroslav Shuraev from Pexels.com