Scientific reports instructing how many trees to plant are enough to save the Earth

The author of the study also said: planting right now so that the trees can grow, so that it can help us later.

A team of scientists working at the Crowther Laboratory, at ETH Zurich University, has just announced the most effective way to combat climate change: on Earth, there are about 0.9 billion hectares. -ta land can be planted with forest , and if we cover all of that land, the plants will absorb about a quarter of the carbon emissions that humans release into the environment.

Instead of looking for solutions to absorb CO ₂ or researching an alternative technology, the team focused on finding an environmentally sound and environmentally friendly method , a 'green solution'. In the new study, which is also the first in the world to address this issue, they point out the ideal plant locations and the amount of carbon they will absorb.

There is approximately 0.9 billion hectares of land that can be planted with forests.

François Bastin, who led the research, explained: 'There is one aspect that is just as important as the calculations we made: we removed urban land and areas that served agriculture, because These lands are important to human society. '

The calculation of the number of trees to be planted is set under current weather conditions, producing the following result: the area of ​​land that can be used to plant trees on Earth is currently 4.4 billion hectares , which is more than the available land area (2.8 billion hectares) is about 1.6 billion hectares .

Of these 1.6 billion hectares, only 0.9 billion hectares have not been used by humans. This means that the total area that can support plants (and to absorb less CO2 to help mankind) is about 9 million square kilometers, about the size of the United States.

The area of ​​land that can be used to grow trees on Earth is currently 4.4 billion hectares.

When these 9 million square kilometers trees are large enough, they will be able to process 205 billion tons of carbon, about a quarter of the 300 billion tons of human carbon released into the environment from the Industrial Revolution to the present.

According to Professor Thomas Crowther, co-author of the new study and also the founder of Crowther Laboratory: ' We all know that afforestation can play an important role in reducing climate change. But we don't know how big the impact could be. Our research shows that afforestation is the best solution we have right now. But we have to hurry, because the new forest will take several decades to mature, to achieve the best carbon sequestration . '

The scientific report was published by the research team on Science.