SEAD (Scottish Education and Action for Development)

Sounds fishy?

While no-one would argue against the benefits of well-planned tree-planting as part of sensible rural development, in terms of climate change it’s a bit of a red herring. Trees only soak up CO2 whilst growing, but when they die/decay or are burnt they release it. It is a short cycle – we need to remember that when we are burning fossil fuels we are releasing carbon that has been stored for millions of years.

As Cambridge University landscape historian Oliver Rackham said:

‘For its practical effect, telling people to plant trees [to avoid climate change] is like telling them to drink more water to keep down rising sea-levels.’

What’s more, there are major environmental and social problems in the global South associated with the seizure of land for exotic tree plantations. Most of these schemes for huge areas of tree planting are focused on poor countries where land is cheap – so we would in effect be expecting countries in the global South to carry the brunt of a scheme supposedly designed to mop up the pollution we had created in the North

More info on carbon trading in Resources.