![]() ![]() Planting species mixtures frequently increases productivity, reduces disturbance impacts, and enhances biodiversity relative to monocultures. Afforestation is likely to mitigate emissions most effectively when trees are planted in formerly forested, high-productivity sites, commonly found in tropical or sub-tropical ecosystems. Newly planted forests can create “carbon debts” that take significant time to be repaid. Policy-makers must avoid generating “perverse incentives” that can compromise or even destroy existing carbon sinks in forests, savannas, grasslands and peatlands. Mature natural forests provide significant additional benefits and must be conserved, whilst regeneration of secondary natural forests is promoted. Natural forests store more carbon than plantation forests, due to complex stand structures and accumulation of carbon belowground and in the forest floor. Here, we assess the potential impact of reforestation and afforestation on the global climate system, and identify ecological, economic, and societal implications of such efforts. Because growing forests capture CO 2 in their biomass and soils, large-scale tree planting efforts have been advertised as a viable way to counteract anthropogenic emissions as part of net-zero emission strategies. The severe consequences of human disruptions to the global carbon cycle have prompted intense interest in strategies to reduce atmospheric CO 2 concentrations. 7Grantham Institute and Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.6Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.5Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Swinburne University, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia.4Department of Life Sciences, Silwood Park, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.3Institute of Silviculture, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria.2Grantham Institute and Department of Life Sciences, Silwood Park, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.1Department of Biology, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States.Bonnie Waring 1,2*, Mathias Neumann 3, Iain Colin Prentice 4, Mark Adams 5, Pete Smith 6 and Martin Siegert 7 ![]()
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