These 10 golden rules for planting trees could help save the planet

The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), outlines ten rules for effective reforestation. These include prioritizing the protection of existing forests, engaging local communities, maximizing biodiversity, and utilizing natural regeneration. The guide emphasizes that reforestation must be science-based and locally adapted to avoid harming ecosystems like peatlands or grasslands, while creating economic co-benefits for local populations.

• Protecting existing forests is the most critical first step because old growth forests act as massive carbon sinks and can take hundreds of years to recover once lost.
• Reforestation projects are more likely to succeed when they involve local communities, providing both economic benefits through job creation and utilizing local expertise. For instance, a BGCI project in Malawi to conserve the Mulanje cedar planted over 500,000 trees and created more than 1,000 local jobs.
• Natural regeneration is often more effective and cheaper than plantations, with carbon capture potentially being 40 times greater in naturally regenerated land.
• Tree planting should be avoided in certain wild areas such as grasslands, peatlands, and wetlands, as planting trees in these locations can displace biodiversity and cause harm.
• To ensure ecosystem resilience against pests, fire, and climate change, projects should prioritize native species and maintain high genetic diversity. A BGCI and Tooro Botanical Gardens project in Uganda produced over 260,000 seedlings of 100 indigenous species to support this goal.

APA

Grosfield, L. (2021). These 10 golden rules for planting trees could help save the planet. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/10-golden-rules-for-planting-trees-could-help-save-the-planet/

Chicago

Grosfield, Lynsey. These 10 golden rules for planting trees could help save the planet. World Economic Forum, 2021. https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/10-golden-rules-for-planting-trees-could-help-save-the-planet/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Grosfield |first1=Lynsey |title=These 10 golden rules for planting trees could help save the planet |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=12 March 2021 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/10-golden-rules-for-planting-trees-could-help-save-the-planet/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{grosfield2021these, author = {Grosfield, Lynsey}, title = {{These 10 golden rules for planting trees could help save the planet}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2021}, month = mar, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/10-golden-rules-for-planting-trees-could-help-save-the-planet/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }