Courtesy of Forests News
Written by: Will Anderson and Aaron Minnick
Everyone is talking about trees. In January, the World Economic Forum founded the Trillion Trees initiative (1t.org), an effort to protect and grow enough trees to fight climate change and build healthy rural landscapes and economies. Around the same time, major private companies made their own pledges to grow hundreds of millions of trees.
This new momentum came after a disastrous year for the world’s trees. In 2019, the world lost 11.9 million hectares of tree cover in the tropics, the rough equivalent of 4 billion trees — an area the size of Honduras.
Backed by years of World Resources Institute research, TerraMatch is an online platform and mobile app that combines new excitement from the private sector with expertise from the global movement to restore degraded and deforested land.
Project developers around the world post detailed project plans, vetted by WRI, onto the TerraMatch platform. Each project pitch includes the species of trees involved, the historical survival rate of the project’s trees and the tree-grower’s method of restoration.
Project developers explain the true costs of not just planting a tree, but growing it for years, including preparing the site, maintaining trees for years after planting, and measuring progress over time.
Trees and other nature-based solutions help communities adapt to climate change and can provide up to 37 percent of the annual reductions in greenhouse gas emissions needed by 2030.
Trees and forests stop erosion in its tracks, regulate water supplies, keep the soil fertile and boost crop yields. For every $1 invested in tree restoration, people can earn up to $30 in direct benefits.
Trees are key economic assets for people who build their livelihoods on the timber, fruit and other products that they provide.
We are calling on all tree-growers and funders to join TerraMatch and begin connecting. To get involved, head over to TerraMatch.org to apply for an account.
