Tree planting: A double‐edged sword to fight climate change in an era of megafires

Hermoso, Virgilio; Regos, Adrián; Morán-Ordóñez, Alejandra; Duane, Andrea; Brotons, Lluı́s

doi:10.1111/gcb.15625

Cited by 36 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The landscape natural regeneration derived from the intensified rural abandonment in the region, which also represents historical and contemporary landscape change tendencies shared by several rural mountains across Europe (Otero et al 2015), might facilitate the implementation of such strategies. However, the application of climatesmart strategies under the current EU policies on natural restoration (supported by large-scale afforestation actions) should be carefully planned (Hermoso et al 2021). Future planning should contemplate potential ecological impacts, particularly related to decreases in landscape heterogeneity (e.g.…”

Section: Recommendations For Climate-smart and Fire-smart Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, large-scale tree-planting initiatives have also been criticized by the scientific community due to consequent detrimental ecological and economic impacts (e.g. Bond et al 2019, Holl and Brancalion 2020, Selva et al 2020 as well as a potential increased wildfire risk (Hermoso et al 2021). Objectors argue that not only do these actions have limited efficacy in regulating climate change, but might also restrain key opportunities to reduce fossil fuel emissions (Anderegg et al 2020), to decrease deforestation trends and to restore degraded forests through natural regeneration processes (Bond et al 2019, Gómez-González et al 2020.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, these regions are suffering from large and severe fires responsible for economic, social and environmental damages (Turco et al 2018, Sil et al 2019, mainly due to strong climatic seasonality and irregularity, and warm-dry summers magnified by climate change and rural abandonment (Moreira et al 2011). Climate-smart policies inducing afforestation and rewilding actions in the already abandoned and densely vegetated rural areas of Southern Europe may exacerbate the already harsh impacts of extreme wildfires (Hermoso et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Climate regulation ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation are enhanced differently by climate- and fire-smart landscape management

Campos

Rodrigues

Sil

et al. 2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The implementation of climate-smart policies to enhance carbon sequestration and reduce emissions is being encouraged worldwide to fight climate change. Afforestation practices and rewilding initiatives are climate-smart examples suggested to tackle these issues. In contrast, fire-smart approaches, by stimulating traditional farmland activities or agroforestry practices, could also assist climate regulation while protecting biodiversity. However, there is scarce information concerning the potential impacts of these alternative land management strategies on climate regulation ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. As such, this work simulates future effects of different land management strategies in the Transboundary Biosphere Reserve of Meseta Ibérica (Portugal-Spain). Climate-smart (“Afforestation”, “Rewilding”) and fire-smart (“Farmland recovery”, “Agroforestry recovery”) scenarios were modelled over a period of 60 years (1990–2050), and their impacts on climate regulation services were evaluated. Species distribution models for 207 vertebrates were built and future gains/losses in climate-habitat suitability were quantified. Results suggest climate-smart policies as the best for climate regulation (0.98 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 of mean carbon sequestration increase and 6801.5 M€ of avoided economic losses in 2020-2050 under Afforestation scenarios), while providing the largest habitat gains for threatened species (around 50% for endangered and critically endangered species under Rewilding scenarios). Fire-smart scenarios also benefit carbon regulation services (0.82 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 of mean carbon sequestration increase and 3476.3M€ of avoided economic losses in 2020-2050 under Agroforestry scenarios), benefiting the majority of open-habitat species. This study highlights the main challenges concerning management policies in European rural mountains, while informing decision-makers regarding landscape planning under global change.

show abstract

Section: Recommendations For Climate-smart and Fire-smart Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Climate regulation ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation are enhanced differently by climate- and fire-smart landscape management

Campos

Rodrigues

Sil

et al. 2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The carbon storage in the forest ecosystems is reportedly greater than that in the atmosphere (Pan et al, 2011). However, fire needs to be fully taken into account (Hermoso et al, 2021). Still, as a nature‐based climate solution (Bastin et al, 2019; Cook‐Patton et al, 2020), forestation is one of the agreed important international consensuses for the mitigation of global warming by sequestering carbon as biomass and soil organic matter (e.g., Paris Agreement , Bonn Challenge , New York Declaration on Forests , and global Trillion Trees campaign ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Where should China practice forestry in a warming world?

Zhang

Park

Huettmann

et al. 2022

Global Change Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As a nature‐based and cost‐effective solution, forestation plays a crucial role in combating global warming, biodiversity collapse, environmental degradation, and global well‐being. Although China is acknowledged as a global leader of forestation and has achieved considerable overall success in environmental improvements through mega‐forestation programs, many negative effects have also emerged at local scales due to the planting of maladapted tree species. To better help achieve carbon neutrality and the new vision of an ecological civilization, China has committed to further increase forestation. However, where forestation lands and such efforts should really be located is not so well understood yet and agreed upon, especially in the face of rapid climate change. Based on an ensemble‐learning machine, we predicted the spatial habitats (ecological niche) of the forest, grassland, shrubland, and desert under present and future climate conditions based on the natural climax vegetation distribution across China. We show that the potential forestation lands are mainly located in eastern China, which is east of the Hu Line (also known as the Heihe‐Tengchong Line). Under future climate change, forests will shift substantially in the latitudinal, longitudinal, and elevational distribution. Potential forestation lands will increase by 33.1 million hectares through the 2070s, mainly due to the conversions of shrub and grassland to forests along the Hu Line. Our prediction map also indicates that grassland rehabilitation is the universal optimal vegetation restoration strategy in areas west of the Hu Line. This analysis is consistent with much of the observed evidence of forestation failures and recent climate‐change‐induced forest range shifts. Our results provide an overview and further show the importance of adaptive science‐based forestation planning and forest management.

show abstract

“…Grazie a queste informazioni, che andrebbero però raccolte anche con elevata densità a scala nazionale, si materializza la possibilità di rispondere in maniera attendibile alla domanda: "Quali specie o quali provenienze di una specie si possono piantare in un'area geografica precisa con ragionevoli possibilità di contribuire a generare in futuro una foresta in salute?" In assenza di questi strumenti, piantare milioni di alberi può essere rischioso da un punto di vista ambientale ed economico, e per questo si moltiplicano gli appelli di chi -studiando le dinamiche forestali -si preoccupa dei potenziali effetti negativi delle strategie di piantagione massiva che, tra moda e politica Forest@ Forest@ --Rivista di Selvicoltura e Rivista di Selvicoltura e d Ecologia Forestale d Ecologia Forestale forestale, stanno assumendo sempre più popolarità in tutta Europa (Di Sacco et al 2021, Fady et al 2021, Gömöry et al 2021, Hermoso et al 2021.…”

Section: Disporre DI Materiali Di Base Adeguati Alle Nuove Sfideunclassified

The Italian forest nursery sector at the crossroads: challenges and strategies

Mariotti¹,

Mezzalira²,

Allasia³

et al. 2022

Forest@

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Italian forest nursery sector at the crossroads: challenges and strategies The recognition of the key role of forests in contrasting the dramatic effects of climate change and biodiversity crisis is the pillar of many initiatives on a global, European, and national scale calling for afforestation campaigns. The Italian forest nursery sector is currently inadequate to meet the demand for tree seedlings for the national campaigns. Forest nursery production is characterized by regional or local companies that are remarkably different from each other in organization and efficiency. It is therefore urgent to develop a comprehensive restructuring of the entire sector to be able to respond to the specific needs of forestry projects in Italy and Europe. In this paper, we present a series of key principles and criteria aimed at guiding the renaissance of the sector. Strategic actions are proposed by integrating research, governance, public/private partnership, training, and communication. The strategic approach presented is based on a collaborative structure integrating various skills and responsibilities. The first step is an expert review of the Basic Materials (BM) included in the National Register thanks to the development of the genetic studies of forest stands and the inclusion of shrub and herbaceous species, essentials for ecosystem restoration projects counteracting the biodiversity crisis. A series of actions concerns the aspects of certification, voluntary or prescriptive, of the quality of BM, and the ultimate harmonization of national production to European standards. Particular importance needs to be devoted to the collection, evaluation, and conservation of seeds to develop innovative solutions both for the production of BM and for specific implementation phases of afforestation projects and ecosystem restoration. The governance phase might be implemented through the creation of interregional centers with the duty of collecting and conserving seeds, thus enhancing the existing experiences of outstanding regional and provincial tree nurseries with the support of the National Centers for the study and conservation of Forest Biodiversity. Furthermore, the promotion of partnerships between public and private companies and the creation of a shared and accessible national platform represent strategic actions of primary importance. A fundamental role is then assigned to the implementation of training programs and the construction of an open and incremental communication plan. Thanks to these actions it will be possible to place forest nurseries at the center of the relationships between tree planting and afforestation plans and programs, integrated forest design, implementation of new forests, and their adaptive management.

show abstract

Tree planting: A double‐edged sword to fight climate change in an era of megafires

Cited by 36 publications

References 9 publications

Climate regulation ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation are enhanced differently by climate- and fire-smart landscape management

Climate regulation ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation are enhanced differently by climate- and fire-smart landscape management

Where should China practice forestry in a warming world?

The Italian forest nursery sector at the crossroads: challenges and strategies

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About