Podcast

Fifty shades of green: the unintended consequences of planting trees

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In the first of an occasional podcast series, sustainability expert Simon Lord and Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb talk about some of the challenges around reforestation and forest restoration. They discuss why it’s often simpler to just plant more trees rather than try to restore degraded forest – but that just planting without proper planning can lead to monoculture and will not recreate biodiversity and soil fertility.

Some useful links:

The challenges of forest restoration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-0iE4vICCc

https://www.dw.com/en/when-planting-trees-does-more-harm-than-good/a-56940591

https://theconversation.com/regrowing-a-tropical-forest-is-it-better-to-plant-trees-or-leave-it-to-nature-156777

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-03-08/a-tree-planting-program-in-mexico-may-encourage-deforestation

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