{"id":268020,"date":"2020-03-18T10:30:14","date_gmt":"2020-03-18T14:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/issues\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T22:53:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T02:53:09","slug":"plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink","status":"publish","type":"issues","link":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/","title":{"rendered":"Plant trees, but remember: nature is more than a carbon sink"},"content":{"rendered":"

The federal government pledge<\/a> to plant 2 billion trees over 10 years has garnered considerable attention from Canadians eager to find solutions to the climate crisis. Planting trees is intuitively attractive: if trees soak up carbon, why not plant more? But ensuring best value for money turns out to be complicated.<\/p>\n

In February, US President Donald Trump elevated attention around tree planting by committing to join the global \u201cTrillion Tree Initiative\u201d in his 2020 State of the Union address<\/a>. Republican lawmakers proposed<\/a> legislation soon afterwards, setting a goal for the United States to plant a trillion trees by 2050 as a \u201cfossil fuel-friendly climate fix.\u201d<\/p>\n

These tree-planting pledges have come on the heels of a key report<\/a> by world scientists pointing to the importance of forests and lands in regulating climate. Governments, it argued, should do a better job of leveraging nature as part of the solution to climate change.<\/p>\n

But as we move to harness nature\u2019s ability to help fight climate change, we need to be mindful of the other crucial services that nature provides, including biodiversity. Building these values into decision-making frameworks such as cost-benefit analyses is not straightforward.<\/p>\n

This is because the \u201cvalue\u201d we get for our funding dollars extends beyond carbon sequestration, and includes habitat for plants and animals, protection for species at risk, flood and heat-wave protection, and cleaning water and air, among others. There are also recreational values and income for local communities to consider. Ignoring these other values in climate-change policy would be a bad idea.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that governments don\u2019t respect these other values (the government has doubled down on international targets and now aims<\/a> to protect 30 percent of Canada\u2019s land by 2030) but there is generally no price on nature or explicit market value.<\/p>\n

And so, choosing the right projects becomes an issue when we don\u2019t assign explicit values within our conservation, biodiversity or resilience-related goals. This means that projects could be ruled out because of high carbon costs even when they have high values in other areas. For example, wetland restoration would do little to ease climate change but could improve biodiversity and stormwater management, reducing the risk of flooding.<\/p>\n

Likewise, policies that aim to give harvested wood products a boost will be highly effective<\/a> at sequestering carbon<\/a> and help develop local resources, but could ignore biodiversity outcomes.<\/p>\n

Adverse impacts are also possible without strong safeguards in place. Obviously, planting trees on natural grasslands or harvesting old-growth forests to plant faster-growing trees could be good for climate but would devastate<\/a> existing ecosystems.<\/p>\n

So how can we make sure that our climate change policies are also good for nature?<\/p>\n

For one, we need to see beyond the trees. There are other landscapes good at sequestering carbon that offer considerable co-benefits, including wetlands, grasslands, agriculture lands and coastal ecosystems. Coastal ecosystems, for example, sequester and store significant amounts of carbon but also offer a slew of other natural benefits<\/a> including providing diverse habitats, protecting coastal communities from flooding and storm surge events, and preventing coastal erosion. Grasslands provide important habitat<\/a> for many of Canada\u2019s species at risk.<\/p>\n

Second, most academic research on carbon stocks and fluxes<\/a> shows that it is much better to keep what you already have than to give it up \u2013 through economic activities \u2013 and then try to restore it through tree planting or land regeneration. Lands and forests can also be a large source of greenhouse gas emissions, exacerbated by forest fires, pest infestations and human activity such as resource extraction and exploration.<\/p>\n

When policies are designed to protect what we already have, we immediately avoid the greenhouse gas emissions that would have otherwise been produced. For example, 35,000 hectares<\/a> of Canada\u2019s peatlands have already been drained, releasing significant emissions. (Peat is used in horticulture<\/a>, among other things.) Conservation tactics would offer immediate benefits. Restoring what we once had (in this case, rewetting peatlands) needs to be carefully coupled with protecting what we already have.<\/p>\n

But this still doesn\u2019t directly address how to determine value for money. What benefits should we be trying to measure, and how do we measure them? How can we compare all of the value in two parcels of land?<\/p>\n

Economics offers ways to get around this, including valuation techniques that put a dollar figure on particular species or services by measuring human preferences. A simpler tactic would be to decide on criteria that would give projects extra points when they demonstrate more than one kind of benefit.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the technique, a certain amount of subjective decision-making accompanies project selection. Are we more interested in protecting species at risk or areas with an abundance of plants or animals? There\u2019s no avoiding criteria selection to figure out what we\u2019re looking to improve.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that tree planting is without merits. It was only recently that the Smart Prosperity Institute calculated<\/a> that 2 billion trees could sequester around 1.8 to 4.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030, and double that amount by 2050.<\/p>\n

So there is no question that nature is a fundamental piece of the puzzle for fighting climate change. However, policies with a sole focus on climate could miss a bigger opportunity to protect and enhance all of the benefits that nature provides.<\/p>\n

Photo: Shutterstock, by\u00a0Pat Lauzon.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Do you have something to say about the article you just read? Be part of the\u00a0<\/em>Policy Options\u00a0discussion, and send in your own submission.\u00a0Here is a\u00a0<\/em>link<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on how to do it.\u00a0<\/em>|\u00a0Souhaitez-vous r\u00e9agir \u00e0 cet article ?\u00a0<\/em>Joignez-vous aux d\u00e9bats d\u2019<\/em>Options politiques\u00a0et soumettez-nous votre texte en suivant ces\u00a0<\/em>directives<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The federal government pledge to plant 2 billion trees over 10 years has garnered considerable attention from Canadians eager to find solutions to the climate crisis. Planting trees is intuitively attractive: if trees soak up carbon, why not plant more? But ensuring best value for money turns out to be complicated. In February, US President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":277090,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-08-30T08:40:31Z","apple_news_api_id":"2721f1db-1c46-452a-882e-81d14096606b","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-08-30T08:40:31Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AJyHx2xxGRSqILoHRQJZgaw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[9387,9361,9372],"tags":[8595],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4261],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[7115],"class_list":["post-268020","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elaboration-de-politiques","category-environnement","category-recent-stories-fr","tag-forestry-fr","irpp-category-environnement","irpp-tag-foret"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nPlant trees, but remember: nature is more than a carbon sink<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Plant trees, but remember: nature is more than a carbon sink\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The federal government pledge to plant 2 billion trees over 10 years has garnered considerable attention from Canadians eager to find solutions to the climate crisis. Planting trees is intuitively attractive: if trees soak up carbon, why not plant more? But ensuring best value for money turns out to be complicated. In February, US President […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Policy Options\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IRPP.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-08T02:53:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink-1920x672.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"672\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@irpp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/\",\"name\":\"Plant trees, but remember: nature is more than a carbon sink\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-18T14:30:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-08T02:53:09+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":700},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Plant trees, but remember: nature is more than a carbon sink\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/\",\"name\":\"Policy Options\",\"description\":\"Institute for Research on Public Policy\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Plant trees, but remember: nature is more than a carbon sink","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/","og_locale":"fr_FR","og_type":"article","og_title":"Plant trees, but remember: nature is more than a carbon sink","og_description":"The federal government pledge to plant 2 billion trees over 10 years has garnered considerable attention from Canadians eager to find solutions to the climate crisis. Planting trees is intuitively attractive: if trees soak up carbon, why not plant more? But ensuring best value for money turns out to be complicated. In February, US President […]","og_url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/","og_site_name":"Policy Options","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IRPP.org","article_modified_time":"2025-10-08T02:53:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":672,"url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink-1920x672.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@irpp","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/","url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/","name":"Plant trees, but remember: nature is more than a carbon sink","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink.jpg","datePublished":"2020-03-18T14:30:14+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-08T02:53:09+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"fr-FR","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink.jpg","width":2000,"height":700},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2020\/03\/plant-trees-but-remember-nature-is-more-than-a-carbon-sink\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Plant trees, but remember: nature is more than a carbon sink"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website","url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/","name":"Policy Options","description":"Institute for Research on Public Policy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"fr-FR"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues\/268020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/issues"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268020"},{"taxonomy":"article-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-status?post=268020"},{"taxonomy":"irpp-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/irpp-category?post=268020"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=268020"},{"taxonomy":"irpp-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/irpp-tag?post=268020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}