10 golden rules for reforestation programmes we need to heed

Infrastructure such as nurseries and seed supply systems are essential to the success of any tree-planting programme. — AFP

Large-scale tree-planting campaigns, though they may be imbued with good intentions, don’t always work. The scientific community is littered with arguments for and against such campaigns, and whether they actually benefit the climate.

Critics have pointed out how the aggressive spread of Prosopis juliflora, a woody shrub from Central and South America that was planted in Kenya’s Baringo County in the 1980s, devastated indigenous biodiversity and starved local animals.