Are We Planting The Right Trees To Fight Climate Change?

Planting trees is a great way to fight climate change. But loss of this "supertree" is responsible for up to ten times more CO2 emissions and environmental damage than ordinary trees. Each year, 0.7% of these trees are lost, but their loss accounts for 10% of the CO2 emissions from deforestation globally.

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Supertrees Versus Ordinary Trees

CO2 Impact

Mangroves account for 10% of CO2 emissions from deforestation, despite being only 0.7% of forest loss. [9] This makes mangroves an especially important kind of tree to plant to combat climate change.

Supertrees: 10 times greater

Regular trees: 1 for 1 impact

CO2 Sequestration Duration

Mangroves sequester carbon for 100s of years longer, because their carbon is stored in their roots, which grow underwater, and under layers of silt that they have prevented from going into the ocean.

Supertrees: 100s to 1000s of years

Regular trees: 10s to 100s of years

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Planting Cost Versus Climate Impact

Planting Cost

Supertrees: as low as $1 per tree

Regular trees: as low as $1 per tree

Climate Impact Versus Planting Cost

Supertrees: 1000%+

Regular trees: 100%

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Ecological Benefits

Protection Of Aquatic Ecosystems

Supertrees: primary protector of aquatic ecosystems

Regular trees: tertiary and sometimes secondary protector

Prevents Coastal Erosion

Supertrees: grow in coastal areas and prevents coastal erosion

Regular trees: grow on land and so won't prevent coastal erosion

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Protects Coastal Communities And Villages

Supertrees: helps reduce storm surge and flooding

Regular trees: don't grow in areas where this protection is needed

Prevents Silt From Harming Reefs

Supertrees: filters and traps silt from river runoff

Regular trees: lacks aquatic and aerial root system to filter runoff

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Protects And Restores Fisheries

Supertrees: replanting helps fisheries recover by preventing silting of reefs and providing habitat for fish and marine life

Regular trees: minimal impact to fisheries, negative impact when erosion happens after forest fires

Cleans River Water Flowing Into Oceans

Supertrees: yes, root systems highly effective at preventing silt and toxins from flowing into our oceans

Regular trees: no, because their root systems require aeration and don't grow in aquatic areas

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Forest Fire Risks

Forest Fires & Sudden CO2 Release

Supertrees: low risk, grows in wet marshlands and intertidal regions

Regular trees: high to moderate risk in areas with higher precipitation variability

Vulnerability to Forest Firest

Supertrees: low, because up to 80% of carbon is stored in root system below the water table

Regular trees: high, because must of carbon stored in canopy, not underground in roots

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Help Impoverished Communities

Provides Much Needed Jobs For Third World Communities

Supertrees: yes, most regions that need reforestation work are in developing countries

Regular trees: somewhat, most reforestation happens in first world countries

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Fight Climate Change By Planting Supertrees

Planting supertrees is a great way to fight climate change. We work with partners like Eden Reforestation Projects to plant supertrees.

Before Planting Supertrees

Rain erodes top soil and washes silt into the ocean, harming reefs and aquatic animals, and leaving coastal communities vulnerable to flooding, wave damage and storm surge.

While Planting Supertrees

Sustainable jobs are created giving impoverished people much needed incomes to support their families as they plant and care for habitat restoring forests.

After Planting Supertrees

As your trees grow, they remove CO2 up to 10 times faster than ordinary trees. Since they store much of that CO2 in their roots underwater the CO2 is sequestered for hundreds of years longer.

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Lives Transformed

By selecting a planting plan, not only are you helping to fight climate change, but you are also making a big difference in people's lives by creating jobs to plant and care for climate change fighting trees.

Vavy's Story: The Power Of Economic Self-Sufficiency

With limited income, Vavy had to choose between sending her four children to school or feeding her extended family of ten.

Nima's Story: Overcoming Nepal's Lockdown

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Nima lost her hotel business and found herself not knowing how she would survive.

Amelia's Story: Leaving A Legacy Through Reforestation

Amelia was a young mother with two small children living in Mozambique when her husband was murdered in January 2021.

Why We Need To Work Together To Fight Climate Change

Worldwide even a 1 meter increase in sea level would displace an estimated 100 million climate refugees.[1]

Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress.[2]

The average size of vertebrate (mammals, fish, birds and reptiles) populations declined by 60 per cent between 1970 and 2014.[3]

The past seven years have been the hottest ever recorded globally.[4]

45% of Americans don't believe humans cause climate change,[5] and 53 percent of those surveyed didn’t think the world would avoid climate change’s worst impacts.[6]

The number of climate-related disasters has tripled in the last 30 years.[7]

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Sources

[1] Al Gore, Testifying to the U.S. Senate, March 21, 2007, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-110shrg55923/html/CHRG-110shrg55923.htm

[2] World Health Organization, https://www.who.int/

[3] According to the biennial Living Planet Report published by the Zoological Society of London and the WWF.

[4] European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service as reported by CBS News, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hottest-years-record-climate-change-copernicus/

[5] Guardian/YouGov Poll by Vice News, https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjbd9m/vice-guardian-poll-americans-climate-change-man-made-climate-crimes

[6] Pew Research Center Poll as reported by NBC News, https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/americans-agree-climate-change-issue-differ-rcna18000

[7] Oxfam, https://www.oxfam.org/en/5-natural-disasters-beg-climate-action

[8] Coastal Blue Carbon, NOAA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 17 February 2022, https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/ecosystems/coastal-blue-carbon/

[9] Vanishing mangroves are carbon sequestration powerhouses, Mongabay News, 5 April 2011, https://news.mongabay.com/2011/04/vanishing-mangroves-are-carbon-sequestration-powerhouses/

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