From microbes to meerkats, the wealth of species on Earth is the glue that holds the cycles of life together: producing food, regulating climate, building soil, maintaining ecosystems and more. Tropical forests are some of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, and scientists estimate that they have only described a small percentage of the […]
ANDRAMASINA, Madagascar It’s transplanting season in Andramasina’s rice fields. The town is just 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Madagascar’s bustling capital, Antananarivo, but it takes two and a half hours of driving to get there on poor roads. The town is traversed by the Sisaony River. A destination hiking site for residents of […]
We are in a moment of heightened attention and momentum around reforestation and forest restoration. In particular, tree planting is in vogue, bolstered by pop celebrity billionaires and large initiatives touting mammoth numbers such as Trillion Trees. Although reforestation holds immense promise for slowing the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, the dark […]
How to pick a tree-planting project? Mongabay launches transparency tool to help potential supporters decide
by Liz Kimbrough on 17 May 2021
Mongabay has put together a database to show whether tree-planting and reforestation projects publicly disclose the criteria that experts say are keys to success.
Our directory is built on a three-month research effort to record publicly available information on more than 350 tree-planting projects in 80 countries.
Rather than make an assessment (and perceived endorsement) of the quality of the projects, Mongabay’s review is based on how much information is publicly disclosed by an organization.
Here, we present some key questions to ask and criteria to consider when evaluating the legitimacy and effectiveness of a tree-planting project.
Restoring forestland optimally isn’t as easy as it might seem. A global team of researchers offer guidance on how to do it well.
The climate crisis urgently needs to be mitigated if our children are to inherit a liveable planet. One solution that has been widely adopted is to plant a lot of trees to go some way towards replacing those that have been lost along with the services they provide, such as sequestering carbon, harbouring biodiversity and improving agricultural productivity.
Many initiatives aiming to do just that are underway around the world, mostly deploying an approach to forest and landscape restoration that aims to regain ecological functionality and enhance human well-being in deforested or degraded landscapes.