[niyaven]

I grew up in the largest man-made woodland in Western Europe (Landes forest). I don't know about these organisations but I can say that "planting trees" is not enough, there are very different ways of doing it. So I always take it with a pinch of salt.

Let's the bad example of the Landes forest. It's a monoculture, all of the trees are the same: pinus pinaster. A "forest", usually shaped like a rectangle is just a block of pine trees having the same age. Everything else is cut, removed, because it would slow down the growth of the trees. At 35 or 40 years old, the entire block is erased. After that it's like a minefield, till the new trees are planted.

Now is that a good forest? Well it depends what you hear by "good forest". Wildlife is very scarce, because animals depend on an ecosystem, and not just one type of tree. To hide, to eat, to reproduce, to protect themselves etc. So, sadly, you will hear more birds in a town or city that in that kind of forest.

Is it resilient? Absolutely not. Since all trees have the same age, and the same weakness, these forests are very vulnerable. It takes one parasite (bark beetles or pine processionary for instance) to wipe out kilometers of forest. When usually trees in the middle of the forest are different from the one bordering it to resist to strong winds, here when a strong wind blows it can destroy an entire corridor (you can actually see the corridor) in the forest.

Does it consume a lot of carbon? Well, I could not find accurate numbers for that forest. I hope so. But is it sustainable? Hell no.

If you ask me, the best solution, instead of planting trees, is to just buy lands and let trees grow by themselves. It starts a bit messy, but after a few decades, the forest becomes self sufficient and resilient. And most importantly: full of life.

Now the greatest irony, at least in France, is that it's illegal. If you buy forests and plan to leave it alone, you'll be blamed to have "too much biodiversity". This is not a joke: it's called "Plan simple de gestion".

[EdwardDiego]

Yep, in NZ, hill country on erosion prone soils on the east coast of the North Island was burned off as part of settlers clearing land for livestock.

And then of course, significant erosion occurred during heavy rain events, spreading large amounts of clay and silt over fertile land downstream, rendering it useless for years.

So the government went on a mass pinus radiata planting exercise from the 50s to 70s. And then in the 90s, the state forests were privatised.

Leaving the risk of the monoculture aside, now, when large rain events occur, logging debris is what ends up on the fertile land downstream.

https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/109025916/prosecution...

I'd prefer replanting with a nursery species like Manuka tbh.

[pkphilip]

You make a good point about mono culture forestry and also forestry of the same age. That is bound to cause a lot of problems.

However, agro forestry where multiple types of fruit trees etc are grown and which can be accessed by the community is a viable idea because the communities living around these forests benefit from the produce available from these forests and it also leads to a thriving ecosystem for animals and birds as well.

[niyaven]

Exactly, there are many ways in which the communities in and around the forest can benefit from a diverse forest. Various fruits trees, nuts trees are one way.

[bobthepanda]

If you’re interested, there’s a interesting youtube video about how Japan needs to thin its forests. The youtuber initially set out to create a video about how great Japan’s forest coverage was, but it turns out that after the war (when the forests were stripped first for the war effort, then for the rebuilding) Japan replanted with just two types of tree, Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress, for their supposed superiority for industrial use. However, it was never cheaper than imported timber, so the industry fell apart and could not afford to maintain the forests.

Today these forests are thick and overgrown with these trees, and because they don’t let in much light through their leaves their forest floors are barren. Japan also estimates that allergy season from all the resultant pollen costs $2B a year in economic output.

https://youtu.be/VC4gRGPbTqE