[antisthenes]

The Miyawaki model is incredibly labor intensive and requires far more sophistication in monitoring and planting methods than developing countries are usually willing to commit to mass planting projects.

90%+ of these mass planting "1 million trees in 30 seconds" projects is usually little more than putting sticks in the ground, hoping some of them make it, with little regard for survivability, usefulness, tree species nativity, etc.

[UncleOxidant]

It seems like some of the most successful reforestation projects are driven by a few very committed individuals who live on the land and want to see the forest return. Like the case of India's "Forest Man" https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/12/26/572421590/...

[antisthenes]

Trees are living organisms that need care and help adapting to a changing environment, so I'm not surprised.

The old and magnificent trees we see today in streets and neighborhoods suffer from extreme survivor bias. Many tree species aren't even that large/long-lived as people tend to think about average trees.

There's also a strong correlation between speed of growth and longevity.

Going for the quantity approach that many of these low-effort projects do is little more than just tossing seeds out of a bag onto the ground. In the end you'll get more trees than you had before, but probably not by much, and with varying success.