In tropical regions worldwide, an area around the size of Mexico has the potential to naturally revert back into forest, new research has asserted.
According to a press release from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, the study's scientists used satellite images to identify millions of small patches of land around the globe where tree cover increased over time without the assistance of humans. More than half of the area with strong potential for regrowth was located in Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, China, and Colombia.
This study has major implications for human and planetary health. According to the Forest Stewardship Council, forests provide key ecosystem services to humans, including clean water and healthy soil. Many forests across the world are also utilized for ecotourism activities like bird watching, which can generate money for local communities. For example, Costa Rica generates about $1.4 billion in ecotourism revenue each year, per National University of Costa Rica data cited by Latina Republic.
🗣️ Do you think America does a good job of protecting its natural beauty?
🔘 Definitely 👍
🔘 Only in some areas ☝️
🔘 No way 👎
🔘 I'm not sure 🤷
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
Plus, forests have climate benefits, as trees help to store carbon. In fact, according to UMBC, the roughly 531 million acres with the potential to regrow in humid tropical regions could store 23.4 gigatons of carbon over 30 years. For context, around 40 gigatons of carbon are released into the atmosphere every year, per the Atlantic Council.
Because tropical forests are so important, a number of people and organizations are fighting to save them. For instance, a French-Brazilian startup is using drones to help reforest hard-to-reach areas of forests in Brazil. And Ecosia is a search tool that plants trees based on web queries — so far, the company has planted more than 150 million trees in 35 countries.
Meanwhile, the new study on natural forest regrowth illustrates another affordable way to bring trees back, according to co-lead author Brooke Williams, per UMBC.
"Tree planting in degraded landscapes can be costly," Williams said. "By leveraging natural regeneration techniques, nations can meet their restoration goals cost-effectively. Our model can guide where these savings can best be taken advantage of."
The authors also created a digital map of the global tropics that includes estimated potentials for regrowth on areas of land, with each pixel indicating a 30-by-30-square-meter segment.
"Our goal and our hope is that this is used democratically by local people, organizations, and localities from the county level all the way up to the national level, to advocate for where restoration should happen," said the study's second author, Matthew Fagan, according to UMBC. "The people who live there should be in charge of what happens there — where and how to restore really depends on local conditions."
Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
