A new study says that poorly planned tree planting in schemes in Africa is threatening vital grassland eco-systems
Savannah or forest? That depends upon whom you ask. Image: Stuart Butler/Geographical
26 February 2024
Restoring 100 million hectares of degraded and deforested land in Africa by 2030 is a highly ambitious target. There’s no doubt that the goals of The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative are lofty and much-needed. But, is this, and other reforestation projects, being done in the right way?
A new study published this month in the journal Science puts this into doubt by claiming that an area of Africa the size of France is under threat from inappropriate forest restoration projects. The study authors claim that 52 per cent of tree-planting projects in Africa are taking place in natural savannah eco-systems rather than degraded woodland and that this risks destroying these vital grasslands.
One of the main reasons this is happening is due to the definition of forest land by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, which defines forests as areas of land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than five metres and a canopy cover of at least 10 per cent. Many African savannah eco-systems fall squarely within this definition. By planting trees in predominately grassland ecosystems, the entire habitat is changed, which will negatively impact many of the species of plants and animals already living there. To make matters worse, the study authors go on to say that almost 60 per cent of the trees being planted are non-native species, which runs the serious risk of introducing invasive species.
The study focused its attention on The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative because of the huge scale and ambition of this country-led project, which is currently working with 34 African nations, including almost all the countries in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the report authors aren’t claiming that this is the only misguided reforestation project and that the issues raised with the analysis of this initiative are broadly representative of the situation elsewhere (for example, the All India Tree Plantation Campaign), although Africa is the continent with the greatest cover of savannah and grasslands.
Dr Nicola Stevens, a co-author of the paper and a researcher of African environments at the University of Oxford, explained that The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative’s problem of tree planting in the wrong environment might be one of urgency to get projects off the ground in order to meet the 2030 timeline, ‘The urgency of implementing large-scale tree planting is prompting funding of inadequately assessed projects that will most likely have negligible sequestration benefits and cause potential social and ecological harm.’
This statement doesn’t mean that the report authors are against the reforestation schemes, as Kate Parr, one of the other report authors and a professor of tropical ecology at the University of Liverpool makes clear. She said: ‘Restoration of ecosystems is needed and important, but it must be done in a way that is appropriate to each system. Non-forest systems such as savannahs are misclassified as forest and therefore considered in need of restoration with trees. There is an urgent need to revise definitions so that savannahs are not confused with forest because increasing trees is a threat to the integrity and persistence of savannahs and grasslands.’
Restoring 100 million hectares of degraded and deforested land in Africa by 2030 is a highly ambitious target. There’s no doubt that the goals of The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative are lofty and much-needed. But, is this, and other reforestation projects, being done in the right way?
A new study published this month in the journal Science puts this into doubt by claiming that an area of Africa the size of France is under threat from inappropriate forest restoration projects. The study authors claim that 52 per cent of tree-planting projects in Africa are taking place in natural savannah eco-systems rather than degraded woodland and that this risks destroying these vital grasslands.
One of the main reasons this is happening is due to the definition of forest land by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, which defines forests as areas of land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than five metres and a canopy cover of at least 10 per cent. Many African savannah eco-systems fall squarely within this definition. By planting trees in predominately grassland ecosystems, the entire habitat is changed, which will negatively impact many of the species of plants and animals already living there. To make matters worse, the study authors go on to say that almost 60 per cent of the trees being planted are non-native species, which runs the serious risk of introducing invasive species.
The study focused its attention on The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative because of the huge scale and ambition of this country-led project, which is currently working with 34 African nations, including almost all the countries in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the report authors aren’t claiming that this is the only misguided reforestation project and that the issues raised with the analysis of this initiative are broadly representative of the situation elsewhere (for example, the All India Tree Plantation Campaign), although Africa is the continent with the greatest cover of savannah and grasslands.
Dr Nicola Stevens, a co-author of the paper and a researcher of African environments at the University of Oxford, explained that The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative’s problem of tree planting in the wrong environment might be one of urgency to get projects off the ground in order to meet the 2030 timeline, ‘The urgency of implementing large-scale tree planting is prompting funding of inadequately assessed projects that will most likely have negligible sequestration benefits and cause potential social and ecological harm.’
This statement doesn’t mean that the report authors are against the reforestation schemes, as Kate Parr, one of the other report authors and a professor of tropical ecology at the University of Liverpool makes clear. She said: ‘Restoration of ecosystems is needed and important, but it must be done in a way that is appropriate to each system. Non-forest systems such as savannahs are misclassified as forest and therefore considered in need of restoration with trees. There is an urgent need to revise definitions so that savannahs are not confused with forest because increasing trees is a threat to the integrity and persistence of savannahs and grasslands.’
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