Researchers believe reforestation is the most effective solution to climate change.
A new study out of ETH Zurich shows, for the first time, where in the world new trees could grow, and how much carbon they would store.
“We all knew that restoring forests could play a part in tackling climate change, but we didn’t really know how big the impact would be,” according to Thomas Crowther, study co-author and founder of the Crowther Lab at ETH Zurich.
It turns out Earth is severely lacking in continuous tree cover: The planet can support 1.6 billion more hectares (about 4 billion acres) than currently exist. More than half of that space is not being used by people.
As part of their calculations, the team excluded cities or agricultural regions, “as these areas are needed for human life,” lead study author and postdoc Jean-François Bastin said in a statement.
In layman’s terms, there is an area the size of the US available for tree restoration.
Once mature, new forests could store 205 billion tons of carbon—about two-thirds of the 300 billion tons that has been released into the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution.
“Our study shows clearly that forest restoration is the best climate change solution available today,” Crowther explained. “But we must act quickly, as new forests will take decades to mature and achieve their full potential as a source of natural carbon storage.”
Spread across the globe, the greatest potential for reforestation is in just six countries: Russia (151 million hectares), the US (103 million hectares), Canada (78.4 million hectares), Australia (58 million hectares), Brazil (49.7 million hectares), and China (40.2 million hectares).
Want to join the fight against climate change?
A tool on the Crowther Lab website enables users to look at any point on Earth to find out how many trees could grow there and how much carbon they would store.
Zoom in on your own backyard to see how much of a difference you can make.
The full study was published this week in the journal Science.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison in March revealed that trees play a big role in keeping towns and cities cool: The right amount of leafy cover can lower summer daytime temperatures by as much as 10℉.
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