Films | The Story Behind

Climate change: the trouble with trees

Why tree planting is not the panacea some had hoped

Here you will find some of the resources used in the production of The Economist’s film “Climate change: the trouble with trees” along with exclusive additional material. It is part of the “The Story Behind”, a film series that reveals the processes that shape our video journalism.

DONE THE right way, reforestation will help combat climate change. But it cannot solve the problem on its own. A combination of approaches will be necessary, to reduce fossil-fuel emissions and mitigate their impact. From the green-energy revolution to geoengineering, The Economist has discussed the merits of some of these other measures.

The climate issue - The Economist, September 19th 2019

Clean power is shaking up the geopolitics of energy - The Economist, March 15th 2018

The truth about big oil and climate change - The Economist, February 9th 2019

Greenhouse gases must be scrubbed from the air - The Economist, November 16th 2017

Why people in rich countries are eating more vegan food - The Economist, October 13th 2018

Simon Lewis, professor of Global Change Science at UCL and the University of Leeds, also discusses alternative approaches. Watch an extended excerpt from our interview with him below.

Getting forestation right
Trees can play a role in addressing climate change, by capturing carbon from the atmosphere. But the effectiveness of trees in such carbon sequestration is heavily dependent on how—and where—reforestation is pursued.

China’s desert-taming “green Great Wall” is not as great as it sounds - The Economist, May 16th 2019

Restoring natural forests is the best way to remove atmospheric carbon - Nature, April 2nd 2019

Simon Lewis’ Green New deal for nature - September 11th 2019

Impacts of forestation and deforestation on local temperature across the globe - Sinervo B et al, PLOS One, March 20th 2019

Climate Change and Land: An IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems - August 7th 2019

The Amazon rainforest
In August 2019 more than 8,000 fires raged across the Amazon rainforest, bringing it ever closer to the tipping-point at which no human action can stop it shrinking.

Jair Bolsonaro shrugs as the Amazon burns - The Economist, August 23rd 2019

Deforestation in the Amazon may soon begin to feed on itself - The Economist, August 15th 2019

Deathwatch for the Amazon - The Economist, August 1st 2019

The Amazon is approaching an irreversible tipping point - The Economist, August 1st 2019

The Intelligence: Clear-cut risks: the Amazon degrades - Economist Radio, August 8th 2019

Tracking the Amazon forest fires - Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research

Reforestation in the West
Ireland is rapidly reforesting, and it is not alone. Between 1990 and 2015, EU countries reforested an area the size of Portugal. The spread of forests is not always popular, but it is set to continue.

Why France’s forests are getting bigger - The Economist, July 18th 2019

Trees are covering more of the land in rich countries - The Economist, November 30th 2017

The Crowther Institute study
On July 5th 2019, the Crowther Institute, a research lab focused on the environment, published a report that set out to show the potential of planting trees in fighting climate change.

Find out about the work of the Crowther Lab here.

Full report here.

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