We need to kill greenwashing for nature, people and climate

In the hunger games, Suzanne Collins wrote “it is the things we love most that destroy us”. For me, ecological science can be the most thrilling experience in the world. You are at the frontier of discovery, fighting for the things you care about most. But it can also be brutal.?

At this moment, our research group is about to publish a paper in a top peer-reviewed journal. I should be overwhelmed with excitement for the brilliant young scientists that made this happen. However, as we wait for the release of the paper on November 13th, I am nervous. I am feeling twinges of an anxiety that I have experienced from my past. And it all comes down to how we frame the importance of nature.

Nature is pure magic. Diverse ecosystems provide clean air, water, food and are the centre of many cultural traditions .? As a wonderful bonus, when they are able to support a rich diversity of species, these ecosystems also store billions of tonnes of carbon, helping in the fight against climate change.

However, while this co-benefit of carbon capture should be good news, it has actually led to a controversy that has threatened the environmental movement. Specifically, the role of nature in fighting climate change has been highly controversial because of misconceptions around the role of mass tree plantations to offset corporate carbon emissions.?

The controversy

In 2019, my colleagues and I published a study in the journal Science , led by one of the most creative scientists I have ever met - Dr. Jean-Francois Bastin. That study suggested that there might be 0.9 billion hectares of land where forests could naturally recover. We estimated that, if nature could recover in the long term, this land could capture around 200 billion tonnes (200 Gt) of carbon, which would help with ? of our carbon drawdown needs.

This was an exciting moment. Forests became front page news around the world. It inspired countless wonderful initiatives that are aimed at revitalizing biodiversity and human well-being around the world. As young scientists obsessed with the beauty of nature, nothing could have been more exciting.

However, those early thrills soon took a darker turn, as the idea of ecological restoration got confused with the idea of mass ‘tree planting’. My own naive and unskillful communication led to an oversimplification of our research in the media, and gave rise to misconceptions about the role of nature. In short, when we said that ecological restoration had huge potential, it seemed to many people that we were advocating for the creation of vast plantations of trees.?

Nothing could be further from the truth. For anyone who knows our research, it is clear that the power of nature lies in its diversity, and it is centered around the rights of local communities and indigenous populations who are the greatest stewards of biodiversity. This does not equate to buying up land and planting monocultures of trees (carbon farms), which would only harm local people and nature. And, by using these monoculture plantations as an excuse to not cut emissions, you are harming people and nature around the world.? Nature has such spectacular potential to help us tackle most global threats, but it will be devastating if people just use and exploit it as an excuse to do more harm to our planet.

The misconception around the idea of mass plantations has been personally devastating. It is painful to be criticized by anyone online, but it is even more crushing when the criticisms come from your fellow scientists, and the people you respect most.?

This concept of greenwashing did not begin in 2019. But it has been gradually undermining people’s faith in the environmental movement. And while confidence in nature based solutions remains low, nature continues to suffer as the financial shortfall for biodiversity remains as high as $900 billion per year.

It is for this reason that a global network of scientists has joined forces to address this controversy head on – an attempt to kill the threat of greenwashing outright.

The latest science

This new study - published in the journal Nature - was led by the brilliant Lidong Mo and Dr. Constantin Zohner. Together, we collaborated with over 230 scientists around the world, to build the Integrated Global Forests Assessment. This showed that diverse forests could capture approximately 226 Gt of carbon in regions with low human footprint if they were allowed to recover. However, this won't be achieved through vast tree plantations of single species.?

The greatest proportion of carbon capture (61%) can be achieved by conserving the ecosystems that we have. We need every government and company to take steps to limit the pressures on natural forests around the world. The remaining (39%) can be achieved by reconnecting fragmented landscapes through millions of community-led initiatives (e.g. agroforestry,? ecotourism, rewilding, natural regeneration etc.). In doing so, we must redefine nature restoration. Restoration does not mean getting as many trees into the ground as possible. It means revitalizing biodiversity for the wellbeing of the people who depend on it.?

To achieve this potential, biodiversity is key! Biodiversity accounts for at least 50% of this forest productivity , so this science provides evidence that monoculture plantations could not get us close to that carbon storage potential. This paper only focuses? on forests, but the message is the same for all ecosystems. We must protect natural biodiversity within grasslands, peatlands, and wetlands, and all other ecosystems that are equally essential for life on Earth.

And importantly, this can only be achieved if we also slash our greenhouse gas emissions. If we do not prevent fossil fuel emissions the capacity of ecosystems will be threatened by rising temperatures, drought, and fire risks. The science shows that tree planting cannot be an excuse to continue emitting carbon because climate change would only destroy those trees in the long run.?

So, how to move forward??

At the heart of the greenwashing challenge is the utilitarian way we see nature. We have always selected the parts of nature that we need (for food, timber, medicines, etc), propagating those parts at the expense of everything else. And the danger is that we could do the same thing with carbon. We must reframe and re-imagine our relationship with nature - we must transform our financial and political systems so that natural ecosystems are more valuable to people when they are alive than dead. And when I say valuable, I do not only mean financially valuable, but valuable in countless tangible and intangible ways.

To help natural forests, companies and governments should not be looking to offset their damage. The science suggests that the first place is to look at their own footprint. Ending deforestation within company supply chains would be the most direct contribution to global ecological restoration. Then, we also need to channel wealth towards the millions of local communities, indigenous populations, farmers and foresters who promote biodiversity across the globe . These people and communities around the world are finding solutions to make biodiversity the viable choice for local people.?

And there are millions of local communities who are currently working with nature to secure sustainable livelihoods across the globe. See how it can work across the global restor.eco network.

When Leitoro Adrian and his community protect patches of local Kenyan forest , the vegetation traps moisture so that his cattle can graze. By protecting nature, Leitoro is securing sustainable food, livelihoods and medicines for the Rendille tribe that he belongs to. As more and more nearby villages join in, nature continues to recover across the landscape.?

Like the farmers in the Centro De Estudos Rioterra community in Brazil, or the community conservationists of Lemo Nakai Village in Indonesia, Leitoro is one of countless people across the globe that depend directly on healthy, diverse forests for his livelihood. When nature is the viable option for local people, that is when it thrives in the long-term.

As more people are economically empowered by nature, so the movement grows. I am convinced that there is enormous potential to build towards a positive tipping point for nature and humanity to thrive together. Only when healthy biodiversity is the preferred choice for local people will we see long-term carbon capture as a byproduct!?

For People, Nature and Climate

I desperately hope this science can help inform policies that channel financial flows towards local communities and indigenous peoples who are promoting biodiversity around the world! I’m sure that many people will support this message, while others will not. Some scientists will criticize our analysis - taking a critical perspective is what scientists do. Some people will dislike the way I personally deliver the message. But the thing I really fear is that people think nature is just an easy way out, something that we can use to justify doing more damage to the planet.?

“There can be no choice between nature and emissions cuts, because we urgently need both. We need nature for climate action and we need climate action for nature.”

There can be no more choice between nature and climate action. To address climate change we need nature, and to protect nature we need bold climate action. To do this, we must kill greenwashing once and for all. If we can shift the focus beyond only carbon, towards promoting the things that we do want - biodiversity and human wellbeing - then local restoration initiatives will achieve significant carbon capture - not as the goal, but as a byproduct.

The more we love nature, the more we are affected by this global environmental challenge. We are all going to need the resilience, drive and optimism to keep going. For me, the greatest source of optimism comes from the heroes that are already positive driving change on the ground. Meeting Leitoro puts this environmental challenge into perspective. You cannot hear his story and not gain hope. I wish every ecologist out there could meet someone like Leitoro. To realize that, however hard it gets, the work is all worth it.