Don’t Write Off Tree Planting
April 24, 2008
A lot of attention, not all of it complimentary, has been given to the trend for celebrities and others to plant trees to offset their “carbon footprint.” While some congratulate this effort, others have likened it to the infamous practice of buying indulgences to offset your sins. All agree that it is, at best, a partial solution to climate change.
But the effort should not be so quickly discounted. Fighting climate change is only a small part of the story. There are many other good reasons to plant trees, especially in the tropics. Floresta, the ministry which I direct, began planting trees nearly twenty five years ago, when we realized that deforestation was a major contributor to rural poverty in poor countries. The link between trees and poverty may seem obscure at first, but there is a remarkable connection between the two. Though largely hidden from our sight and consciousness, farmers working at or near the subsistence level still make up a huge proportion of the world’s population. Many of them, working with crude hand tools, eke their living from rocky hillsides, while walking for hours to get water and firewood. Among the poorest of the poor, they lag in almost every area of human development. Their soil and their water are their only assets, the only things they have on which to build a life.
And their soil and water are dependent upon the health of their watershed—upon the forests upstream and the trees in their communities. Trees are vital for preventing soil erosion, and can even help to build the soil by fixing nitrogen, bringing buried nutrients to the surface and by contributing leaf litter and other organic matter to the soil. Where the trees have been stripped from the hillsides, massive soil erosion follows, robbing the poor farmer of one of her most valuable possessions.
Water, availability and quality are also dependent on the health of the forest. Absence of trees results in a decrease in the local rainfall. This is magnified by the fact that when the rain does fall, there is little to stop it from immediately running off before it is able to soak into the ground. Where the soil is protected by a canopy of trees to break the fall of precipitation, leaf litter to slow runoff, and roots to increase soil permeability, water is able to infiltrate and replenish local aquifers. On the other hand, on uncovered soil, water can simply be the engine for erosion and downstream flashfloods. If the water does not soak in, the water table will drop and the local environment will become drier. This is one of the contributing factors to desertification and the increasing incidence of drought in many places. The farmers of many countries can point to rivers that were once reliable sources of water but which today flow only during heavy rains—and at those times, flood higher than ever in the past. These farmers often spend hours a day simply carrying water to and from their homes. Where the land has been stripped of trees a desert is soon created. But it is a reversible process!
The trees also act as a filter. Studies have shown a direct correlation between the absence of forest cover and the presence of E. coli and other contaminants. This especially impacts the rural poor who cannot afford to have water piped into the home or to buy bottled water to drink. Instead family members, especially women, often walk hours to fetch water and additional hours to collect the firewood necessary to purify water by boiling it.
Moreover, as firewood becomes scarcer and its collection costs more time and money, people are less likely to boil their water or even adequately cook their food, increasing health risk and contributing to the downward cycle of desperation. Families who already have no safety net are forced to take greater risks with their well being. There is also a direct correlation between deforestation and a number of infectious diseases. Recent studies show a direct link between malaria and deforestation, and in some locations it has been shown to be one of the most important variables in the incidence of leishmaniasis and hookworm.
Ultimately, deforestation is one of the root causes of rural emigration, as people leave the unproductive countryside in hope of a job in the overcrowded cities, or perhaps in the United States. One of the reasons that we began planting trees and working with poor farmers in the state of Oaxaca ten years ago was the realization that much of our immigration problem in Southern California is rooted in declining opportunities in the mountains of Oaxaca—a state that has been referred to as the most eroded spot on earth.
But as we have happily found, this situation can be reversed. Land can become productive again. At Floresta we have seen rivers and streams restored, and farm productivity dramatically increase. Families, split by lack of opportunity and illegal immigration, are thrilled by the opportunity to stay together. God’s plan of redemption and restoration can be graphically demonstrated as we work together with the poor to reclaim degraded lands.
So don’t discount planting trees. By all means let’s make the big lifestyle changes to reduce carbon emissions. But let’s plant trees too. And as you plant trees to offset what you can’t change, make sure you that the organization you are working with is doing more than merely sticking trees in the ground. By finding an organization that is working in collaboration with the poor to plant trees and restore degraded lands, your tree planting can do much more than assuage your guilt. It can literally give sustenance and health to God’s precious children.
Scott C. Sabin is the executive director of Floresta, a Christian nonprofit organization that reverses deforestation and poverty in the world by transforming the lives of the rural poor (www.floresta.org).
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Our little son celebrate his 1st bith day on this 23 rd of may 2008, so ganga (my wife ) & me disided to organized a tree planting event. therefor we are invited schooll childrens for 25 th of may joint with us, we redy to delever 2000 jak trees for that day. all plants was growing our little nursery. will be attached photos next few days..
we would like to give some school books for all studendts, so we would like to invite joit with us donate some books, we expect assistance.
thanks
wasantha,
ganga
tharushi
charith