Treesy Come: Treesy Go

Many 'pledges' have been made to increase trees, thereby reducing the impact of climate change. Some of the resulting created 'phantom forests', appear however to be cases of blatant 'greenwashing' (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-61300708). The Bonn Challenge, for example, was set up in 2011 with a 'target' of 350m hectares of new trees by 2030. 210m hectares have been 'pledged' so far but only 27m hectares actually achieved. Pledged trees don't counter climate change. Even more striking, is the Phillipines National Greening Programme. The pledge was made here to create 1.5m hectares of new forest and mangrove. In the case of the mangrove, the wrong type of sapling (this specialist marine margins plant has varieties adapted, respectively, to sandy or muddy soils) was planted. It was easier to plant. None of these trees survived. In deed, between 2011 and 2019, 88% of all plantings in the Phillipines programme failed. Promising tree plantings achieves nothing. There have to be checks on whether the trees survive to carry out the business of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Some fail to thrive. Others are simply removed at a later date. Sometimes, older forest is removed as the phantom forests are put in place.