We need to go beyond tree planting

THE economic recovery from COVID-19 needs to be green. The devil, though, is in the details: policies that offer the best returns for government spending while moving us closer to reaching netzero emissions need to consider income and gender inequality.

Investing in projects which simultaneously aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while boosting economic growth deliver high returns on government spending in both the short and long-terms.

Such projects can create “shovel-ready” jobs that are compliant with coronavirus-induced social distancing requirements.

Additionally, green stimulus packages help uphold national commitments to cut carbon emissions under the Paris Agreement.

Governments need to consider a number of factors before rolling out green stimulus packages. The eventual common goal should be that no government, acting in haste to control an unprecedented crisis and dodge unavoidable criticism, initiates a project with attractive and marketable characteristics, but no real backbone over the long term.

There are questions about whether large-scale investment in planting trees is the best way to mitigate climate change; whether the effectiveness of trees as carbon sequesters (trees act as natural carbon sinks and absorb the carbon present in the atmosphere) has been considered and why alternative, or even supplementary, green projects to revive the national economy haven’t been given priority.

There is no doubt that tree plantations help ecosystems recover and provide a variety of benefits for wildlife and people.

They protect mature natural forests from deforestation, encourage certain wildlife species, sequester atmospheric carbon warming and provide employment. Afforestation drives are a green glue that bring together governments, civil society organisations and the beneficiaries.

However, human-planted forests need to be maintained for decades before their benefits as carbon sequesters and wildlife sanctuaries are realised. More often than not, they are cut down to clear land for farming.