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Contributed Talk

Session: : Conservation Planning and Policy 3

COS 125-4 - Do tree planting organizations follow ecological and social best practices?

Tuesday, August 8, 2023
4:15 PM – 4:30 PM PDT
Location: C120-121
Abstract: Widespread interest in the ecosystem services provided by trees, particularly their potential as a carbon sink, has resulted in large and rapidly-increasing sums of money being spent on tree planting in the past decade. Large-scale reforestation has the potential to conserve biodiversity, sequester carbon, and provide for human livelihoods, but will accomplish little if trees do not survive and grow. At worst these initiatives can have unintended, negative consequences such as destroying ancient grasslands, reducing water supply, and increasing deforestation elsewhere. Although several recent articles have described reforestation best practices, the extent to which tree planting organizations have integrated these ecological and socioeconomic recommendations and share this information with prospective donors remains uncertain. We reviewed the websites of 99 intermediary organizations, namely organizations, primarily based in high-income countries, that promote and raise funds for local organizations that implement reforestation projects. We evaluated whether these organizations have clear goals and measurable objectives; are likely to achieve those objectives over the long term; meaningfully engage local landowners and communities in the projects; evaluate and report project outcomes; and disclose how funding is allocated. We found that nearly half (49%) of organizations stated tree or area planting targets, but only 24% had measurable time-bound objectives for reforestation beyond the first year. Seventy percent of the organizations discussed monitoring and 41% reported tree survival after a year or more. However, only 25% of organizations clearly stated a financial commitment to projects beyond one year. Nearly all organizations (98%) discussed the benefits that local communities would receive from tree-growing projects, with the most common being economic gain, education/training, ecosystem services, and food security, but only a minority (38%) reported measures of these outcomes. Only 40% of organizations provided financial reports that showed how funding was split amongst different activities and the intermediary vs. implementing organizations. Organizations with more prior experience and scientific expertise were more likely to follow reforestation best practices. It is a first step that many of the tree planting organizations recognize the importance of goal setting, local stakeholder involvement, and monitoring, but our results raise serious questions about the likelihood of most tree planting projects achieving the desired long-term benefits. We advocate that organizations involved in tree growing should share information publicly about their practices and outcomes so that funders can make more informed decisions about which projects to support.