Afforestation / Reforestation (A/R)

Planting / restoring forests to increase long-term carbon storage in biomass and soil

PREMISE

Forests are natural carbon reservoirs. Through the process of photosynthesis, trees and plants produce oxygen by absorbing CO₂ from the atmosphere and accumulating it as carbon in vegetation and soils. The more trees and plants there are, the more CO₂ is absorbed.

AMBITION

To maximise the ability of forests to sequester CO₂, the extent of forested land on the planet must increase. Afforestation (converting abandoned and degraded lands into forests) and reforestation (replanting trees in deforested lands) are therefore natural ways of lowering the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere.