Improving the Outcomes of Tree Growing Campaigns
Research Description
Countless tree planting programs have been established in the past decade as part of a growing global movement that has promoted tree planting as a panacea for myriad social and environmental problems. Currently, there are at least three initiatives to promote one trillion trees on the planet and numerous other initiatives to plant hundreds of millions of trees in different countries and regions. These ambitious tree planting efforts have numerous potential benefits, such as conserving biodiversity, improving water quality, providing shade in urban areas, and sequestering carbon. Nonetheless, the widespread obsession over planting trees can lead to negative consequences, such as reducing water supply in arid areas and displacing agricultural activities into remaining forests, and many of these tree planting efforts have failed due to poor planning, lack of long-term commitment, and failure to meaningfully engage of local stakeholders. Recently, Pedro Brancalion (University of São Paulo) and I have been working to provide guidance on the steps need to improve the outcomes of these tree growing campaigns so they can serve as one component of a multi-faceted effort to slow global warming, conserve biodiversity, and enhance human livelihoods. However, first priorities must be to dramatically reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and protect existing forests. Below are links to recent publications, interviews and talks that outline key steps that need to be taken to improve tree growing efforts, namely tailoring tree growing strategies to clearly stated project goals; planning, adaptively managing, and evaluating success over a sufficiently long timeframe; and including local stakeholders throughout the process. We are currently conducting research to evaluate the extent to which tree planting organizations are following best practices guidelines.
General Audience Publications
Holl, K.D. and P.H.S. Brancalion. 2022. Which of the plethora of tree growing programs to support? One Earth. You can also read a summary in English in Climate and Capital Media. Leer en español. Leia uma versão em Português
Holl, K.D. and P.H.S. Brancalion. 2021. Arbor Day should be about growing trees, not just planting them. The Conversation. 27 April.
Holl, K.D. & Brancalion, P.H.S. 2020. How can we improve tree planting outcomes. This blog provides a summary of our 2020 Journal of Applied Ecology paper on how to improve tree growing outcomes.
Cook-Patton, S., R. Chazdon, N. Harris, and K.D. Holl. 2020. The best way to restore our forests is to let nature takes its course. This World Economic Forum blog builds on Cook-Patton et al. 2020.
Scientific Publications
Brancalion, P. H. S. and K. D. Holl. 2020. Guidance for successful tree planting initiatives. Journal of Applied Ecology 57: 2349-2361.
Holl, K.D. & Brancalion, P.H.S. 2020. Tree planting is not a simple solution. Science 368: 580-581. Download pdf.
Holl, K.D. 2017. Restoring tropical forest from the bottom up. Science 355:455-456.
Selected Talks and Interviews
Improving outcomes of tree growing and forest restoration efforts. 40 minute talk by K. Holl followed by Q&A.
Do we really need to plant a trillion trees? Science podcast. Interview with K. Holl starts at 14 minutes.
Does the world need another trillion trees? World Economic Forum House on Fire podcast interviews with Tom Crowther, Forrest Fleischman, Karen Holl and others. December 2020.
Mejorando las campañas de cultivo de árboles. Radio de la Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Entrevista en español con K. Holl empieza a las 21:30 minutos.
Keys to improving tree growing campaigns. SER-IUCN Webinar in October 2020 by Karen Holl, Matthew Fagan, and Pedro Brancalion.
Planting trees sounds like a simple climate fix. It's anything but. by Kyla Mandel. Huffington Post.
Countless tree planting programs have been established in the past decade as part of a growing global movement that has promoted tree planting as a panacea for myriad social and environmental problems. Currently, there are at least three initiatives to promote one trillion trees on the planet and numerous other initiatives to plant hundreds of millions of trees in different countries and regions. These ambitious tree planting efforts have numerous potential benefits, such as conserving biodiversity, improving water quality, providing shade in urban areas, and sequestering carbon. Nonetheless, the widespread obsession over planting trees can lead to negative consequences, such as reducing water supply in arid areas and displacing agricultural activities into remaining forests, and many of these tree planting efforts have failed due to poor planning, lack of long-term commitment, and failure to meaningfully engage of local stakeholders. Recently, Pedro Brancalion (University of São Paulo) and I have been working to provide guidance on the steps need to improve the outcomes of these tree growing campaigns so they can serve as one component of a multi-faceted effort to slow global warming, conserve biodiversity, and enhance human livelihoods. However, first priorities must be to dramatically reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and protect existing forests. Below are links to recent publications, interviews and talks that outline key steps that need to be taken to improve tree growing efforts, namely tailoring tree growing strategies to clearly stated project goals; planning, adaptively managing, and evaluating success over a sufficiently long timeframe; and including local stakeholders throughout the process. We are currently conducting research to evaluate the extent to which tree planting organizations are following best practices guidelines.
General Audience Publications
Holl, K.D. and P.H.S. Brancalion. 2022. Which of the plethora of tree growing programs to support? One Earth. You can also read a summary in English in Climate and Capital Media. Leer en español. Leia uma versão em Português
Holl, K.D. and P.H.S. Brancalion. 2021. Arbor Day should be about growing trees, not just planting them. The Conversation. 27 April.
Holl, K.D. & Brancalion, P.H.S. 2020. How can we improve tree planting outcomes. This blog provides a summary of our 2020 Journal of Applied Ecology paper on how to improve tree growing outcomes.
Cook-Patton, S., R. Chazdon, N. Harris, and K.D. Holl. 2020. The best way to restore our forests is to let nature takes its course. This World Economic Forum blog builds on Cook-Patton et al. 2020.
Scientific Publications
Brancalion, P. H. S. and K. D. Holl. 2020. Guidance for successful tree planting initiatives. Journal of Applied Ecology 57: 2349-2361.
Holl, K.D. & Brancalion, P.H.S. 2020. Tree planting is not a simple solution. Science 368: 580-581. Download pdf.
Holl, K.D. 2017. Restoring tropical forest from the bottom up. Science 355:455-456.
Selected Talks and Interviews
Improving outcomes of tree growing and forest restoration efforts. 40 minute talk by K. Holl followed by Q&A.
Do we really need to plant a trillion trees? Science podcast. Interview with K. Holl starts at 14 minutes.
Does the world need another trillion trees? World Economic Forum House on Fire podcast interviews with Tom Crowther, Forrest Fleischman, Karen Holl and others. December 2020.
Mejorando las campañas de cultivo de árboles. Radio de la Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Entrevista en español con K. Holl empieza a las 21:30 minutos.
Keys to improving tree growing campaigns. SER-IUCN Webinar in October 2020 by Karen Holl, Matthew Fagan, and Pedro Brancalion.
Planting trees sounds like a simple climate fix. It's anything but. by Kyla Mandel. Huffington Post.