Improper plantation forest implementation

Global forest cover has been declining in recent decades. Not only has this led to the destruction of large areas of forest that provide vital ecosystem services to people and other species on Earth, but it has also reduced carbon sequestration. This reduces the climate benefits of forests. The growth of plantation forests can help to reverse this trend. However, if not implemented properly, for example through poor tree selection, plantations can have negative environmental impacts such as biodiversity loss, increased water use and problems with land tenure and community rights.

Nº 1

1) Asia, China, Southwest

2) Africa, South Africa, Mpumalanga Province

3) South America, Chile

  • Forestry
  • AFOLU Emission Reduction
  • Afforestation/Reforestation
some attempts made
past case
Region-1
Region-2
Region-3
Region-4
ongoing case
no attempts made

Improper plantation forest implementation

Global forest cover has been declining in recent decades. Not only has this led to the destruction of large areas of forest that provide vital ecosystem services to people and other species on Earth, but it has also reduced carbon sequestration. This reduces the climate benefits of forests. The growth of plantation forests can help to reverse this trend. However, if not implemented properly, for example through poor tree selection, plantations can have negative environmental impacts such as biodiversity loss, increased water use and problems with land tenure and community rights.

1) Afforestation projects in southwest China have exacerbated the effects of drought by increasing evapotranspiration, leaving less water in the soil and threatening water supplies.

2) Afforestation in Mpumalanga Province has led to a significant reduction in grassland bird species diversity. The diversity of all grassland birds, including globally threatened species, is negatively correlated with the extent of afforestation.

3) Afforestation efforts in Chile are aimed at increasing carbon sequestration in response to rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. However, the tree plantation approach is not delivering the desired results because the expansion of plantations is sometimes at the expense of native forests. This reduces the carbon sequestration potential and has a negative impact on the biodiversity of Chile’s forests.

  • Facilitated the efforts to address the initial problem
  • Multilple (effects disconected from each other)

1) Xiao, Y., Xiao, Q. & Sun, X. (2020). Ecological Risks Arising from the Impact of Large-scale Afforestation on the Regional Water Supply Balance in Southwest China. Sci Rep 10, 4150. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61108-w

2) Allan D.G., Harrison J.A., Navarro R.A., van Wilgen B.W., Thompson M.W. (1997). The impact of commercial afforestation on bird populations in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa—insights from bird-atlas data.

Biol Conserv 79:173–185. doi:10.1016/S0006-3207(96)00098-5

3) Heilmayr, R., Echeverría, C. & Lambin, E.F. (2020). Impacts of Chilean forest subsidies on forest cover, carbon and biodiversity. Nat Sustain 3, 701–709. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0547-0

Jordan, R. (2020, June 22). When planting trees threatens the forest. Stanford News. https://news.stanford.edu/2020/06/22/planting-trees-threatens-forest/

Freer-Smith, P., Muys, B., Bozzano, M., Drössler, L., Farrelly, N., Jactel, H., Korhonen, J., Minotta, G., Nijnik, M. and Orazio, C. (2019). Plantation forests in Europe: challenges and opportunities. From Science to Policy 9. European Forest Institute. https://doi.org/10.36333/fs09

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