Fires

The fires in the Amazon brought to the agenda an old problem of lack of enforcement, and disregard for a natural resource that belongs to all humanity

By Dr. Assaf Rosenthal

Good morning to a world that wakes up maybe too late. Forest fires have been set all over the world for many years, mainly to clear areas for agricultural crops and cattle grazing. For many years, equatorial deciduous forests have been set on fire and burned: in Indonesia to make room for oil palm plantations, in equatorial Africa to clear areas for agricultural fields, and above all in the Amazon basin where the forest is set on fire to clear pastures for cattle and field crops, mainly soy (it is appropriate that anyone who replaces meat with soy will be aware of AR fires). Recently, due to the heat and dryness, forests are burning in Siberia.

Now, when more and more people are protesting for the sake of the environment and following the increase in fires in the Amazon with the encouragement of the populist government to "develop Brazil and exhaust its natural wealth" as President Jair Bolsonaro claimed, the media and global public opinion have awakened, an awakening that has caused the "World Sho'i" who gathered in The G7 to declare the need to put out the fires.

The fires illustrate the need for planting and reforestation. A short time ago I wrote that When planting is initiated, it should be done with care and consideration of habitats: . Nevertheless, the need to renew forests that have been created and to plant trees that have been cut down is clear. Cutting down trees and burning forests mainly to make room for agriculture and grazing have severely damaged forests all over the world and today more and more governments and official institutions recognize the need to heal the environment and return at least some of the destroyed forests to the world.

It is estimated that in order to restore some of the cut down forests to the world, it is necessary to plant a trillion trees, or maybe not to plant but to help nature do its part to renew the areas it created?

Planting trees is magical for those looking for a quick activity to mitigate the warming. In early August, the Ethiopian government announced a world record when hundreds of thousands of volunteers planted 353 million trees in one day. This operation came after a team of scientists identified areas of the world that would be suitable for planting a trillion trees, which, if realized, would absorb the amount of greenhouse gases emitted over twenty years.

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a special report on the climatic importance of the correct use of territories, considering the fact that about 23% of all emissions come from agriculture. The "panel" outlined lines for land management such as "forestry agriculture", which would enable: food security, mitigation of warming, sustainable development and preservation of biological diversity.

Management that will take into account the "traps" into which forestry projects have already fallen and that will rely on basic principles that will make it possible to reduce the cost and reduce the failures that may occur when the world embraces the need to plant trees.

The first rule for restoring habitats is of course to stop the destruction: stop the destruction of forests, destruction of wetlands and green infrastructure. Conservation of natural habitats will always be cheaper than restoration. In most habitats, there are seeds in the ground that, with proper care, will develop into trees, so in many cases there is no need for planting. Germination and natural growth of trees is cheaper and more successful than planting.

The most effective restoration is by working with nature. For example, throughout the Sahel there is an organization for the restoration of areas called: "Farmers manage natural restoration". The restorers rely on the remains of roots in the ground, in places where the trees have disappeared. The farmers take care of the remains of the roots and bring them back to life and thus for a few years trees decorate areas that were bare. The trees create moisture and lead to soil improvement and fertility.

In places where planting is still necessary, there is no need to "reinvent the wheel" because there is a wide and extensive knowledge of which types of trees, how and where to plant them.

"Challenge-Boon"

It is a habitat restoration project by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The project, in cooperation with about 60 governments, private organizations and other entities, will rehabilitate about one and a half million square kilometers by 2020, and three and a half million square kilometers by 2030.

Many countries already have detailed maps that indicate the areas to be restored and how to restock when priority is given to planting local trees. Despite the preference for local trees, the climate changes that cause a shift in the locations of trees of different species must be taken into account.

Restoring forests and habitats also requires social change and it turns out that this change is more difficult than the implementation of technological solutions, as it requires hard work and a lot of patience. It is tempting to think that it is enough to plant a number of trees and then hope for the best, real restoration in large areas requires years of work. Large-scale restoration successes such as Shininga in Tanzania or the Loess Plateau in China have shown how well-planned restoration yields benefits over time.

Successful rehabilitation has necessary components: perhaps the most important is the will of the politicians. Fortunately today, the will of the rulers has increased under the influence of the demonstrations and civil protests for the environment and the mitigation of warming. Another important element is clarifying the ownership, ownership and management rights of the land. According to the estimate, there are about one billion small farmers who are key to the success of rehabilitation, it is necessary to strengthen them and allow them access to financing that will enable the improvement of processing methods, such as for example forest-farming. Of great importance is the availability of a wide variety of high quality tree seeds, especially trees that are planted on farms.

A decisive and essential factor is the need for considerable investment by the public and private investors who will invest in the restoration of the environment. It is necessary to invest in afforestation in a manner and in a similar way to what happens in renewable energy. Environmental restoration projects will be a source of investment when it is estimated that: "Every dollar invested in environmental restoration will yield ten dollars in environmental services." Fortunately, there is a growing interest of industrialists to invest in environmental restoration and renewable agriculture.

On September 23 at the UN climate summit, solutions to the issues of reconstruction, climate and nature will be discussed. This is after the general assembly declared a decade for the restoration of the environment. It is hoped that with the right approach it will be possible to restore and preserve the environment by planting billions of trees. A project that will be an important step towards implementing a sustainable future.