Just what have they learnt from China?

-- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - BillionTree Campaign Site --

I read the news from the EarthTrends Blog.  Some people may find this campaign exciting but I feel a bit uneasy about this.

Such pledge reminds me of some mass environmental movements used to take place in China.  My memory about planting trees is not so pleasant.  The result of China's tree-planting campaign is a total failure -- failed to stop sand, managed to drain water. 

The reason is simple: trees do not grow everywhere and should not be grown everywhere.  It can become a destructive factor in certain ecosystems, especially those heavily managed by human, e.g. rangelands.  On the other hand, trees artificially planted often need intensive care, without which they will just die and contribute to carbon emission instead of absorbing it.

I can see that UNEP is trying to mobilise the people -- anyone with some soil can plant a tree, no matter where it is.  However, it runs contrarily with land management policies in many places in EU; it is not practical in already crowded Asia; it is a burden for many people in Africa and South America.  In places not adequate it can take away considerable water.  The target of 1 billion trees is just too ambitious.  Up to when I am writing, the number of trees planted is just about half a million, without stating how many survived.

I cannot find any endorsement from ecologists on the campaign's website nor any sound ecological rationale behind it.  If they really want to compensate for trees being cut down in Amazon they should stop the saws instead of swing the shovels, or at least provide a plan about where and when to plant trees.  This campaign is to me too ambiguous, too ad hoc, and too irrational to be an UNEP initiative.  If they want to learn mass movement from China they should also learn about the consequence.