Warmer temperatures over time are changing weather patterns and disrupting the usual balance of nature. This poses many risks to human beings and all other forms of life on Earth. Humans have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 47 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. As a result, our average annual global temperature has risen by 2 degrees, which has, in turn, driven temperature extremes, decreased snow and sea ice cover, intensifying natural disasters, and changing habitat ranges for plants and animals.
Nearly all land areas are seeing more hot days and heat waves presently. 2024 Summer was one of the hottest years on record in India. Changes in temperature cause more severe and frequent storms. Deserts are expanding, reducing land for growing food. Many people now face the threat of not having enough water on a regular basis. The ocean soaks up most of the heat from global warming, this melts ice sheets and raises sea levels. The ocean also absorbs carbon dioxide, keeping it from the atmosphere, more carbon dioxide makes the ocean more acidic. Climate change poses risks to the survival of species on land and in the ocean. These risks increase as temperatures climb. Forest fires, extreme weather, and invasive pests and diseases are among many threats.
Changes in climate and increases in extreme weather events where people cannot grow or find sufficient food are among the reasons behind a global rise in hunger and poor nutrition, increase diseases and deaths, and make it difficult for health care systems. Fisheries, crops, and livestock may be destroyed or become less productive. Heat stress can diminish water and grasslands for grazing. Weather-related disasters displace 2.3 crore people a year, leaving many more vulnerable to poverty. Climate change impacts are seen throughout every aspect of the world we live in. However, climate change impacts are uneven across the country and the world — even within a single community, climate change impacts can differ between neighborhoods or individuals.
The projections of a climate change-impacted future are not inevitable. Experts believe there is still time to avoid the most negative of outcomes by limiting warming offsite link and reducing emissions to zero as quickly as possible. Reducing our emissions of greenhouse gases will require investment in new technology and infrastructure, which will spur job growth. Additionally, lowering emissions will lessen harmful impacts to human health, saving countless lives and billions of dollars in health-related expenses.
Growing forests and plantation farms can significantly help mitigate climate change because trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, through carbon sequestration and effectively reducing the amount of greenhouse gases present, thus helping to slow down global warming; therefore, expanding forest areas is considered a key strategy to combat climate change. Forests store large amounts of carbon in their biomass, effectively removing carbon dioxide from the air. Deforestation causes stored carbon released back into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. Besides carbon sequestration, forests also regulate rainfall patterns, protect water resources, prevent soil erosion and provide habitats for biodiversity by balancing echo system.
The average tree absorbs an average of 10 kilograms, or 22 pounds, of carbon dioxide per year for the first 20 years. The results here are saying that there is a range between 4.5 and 40.7 tons of Carbon Dioxide removed per year per hectare during the first 20 years of tree growth.
Recent Landsat satellite-based analyses show that close to 400 million hectares (988 million acres) of forests have been disturbed in this century alone (2000-2017), either by human activities or through droughts and fires. The international research team, led by Jean-Francois Bastin of ETH-Zurich in Switzerland, used direct measurements of forest cover around the world to create a model for estimating Earth’s forest restoration potential by government and private land owners by plantation farms. They found Earth’s ecosystems could support another 900 million hectares (2.2 billion acres) of forests and plantation farms, 25 percent more forested area and plantation farms than we have now. By planting more than a half trillion trees, the authors say, we could capture about 205 gigatons of carbon (a gigaton is 1 billion metric tons), reducing atmospheric carbon by about 25 percent. That’s enough to negate about 20 years of human-produced carbon emissions at the current rate, or about half of all carbon emitted by humans since 1960.
Sassan Saatchi, a senior scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, believes reforestation has some merit. He says there’s potential for using reforestation, afforestation and growing plantation farms as a climate mitigation tool and cautions for more advanced technologies for decreasing fossil fuel emissions.
A recent USDA Forest Service study found that forest managers have the opportunity to enhance the carbon sequestration capabilities of existing forests by planting trees and supporting plantation farms. According to the study, the federal government currently has the infrastructure to produce and plant about 65 million seedlings per year while state and private actors have the capacity to produce and plant about 1.1 billion seedlings per year. Combined, the 1.2 billion trees planted could sequester between 16 million and 28 million tons of carbon dioxide a year. This equals the amount of energy used to power between 1.8 million and 3.2 million homes in one year. Altogether, forests and plantation farms in the U.S. offset about 16 percent or three decades worth of greenhouse gas emissions emitted from cars, trucks, power plants, and other sources in country.
China has announced an ambitious plan to plant trees over 73.78 million hectares between 2020 and 2050, increase forest cover to 25 % by 2030. In 2023, the country built and upgraded 34,000 hectares of urban green space, increased the green coverage ratio of villages to 32.01 percent, and conducted highway greening of over 80,000 km. About 3.998 million hectares of forest were planted in the country, higher than the 3.83 million hectares of afforestation seen in 2022, and 4.379 million hectares of degraded grassland were restored.
Thick forests and plantation farms provided a substantial source of revenue. Last year, the output value of China’s forestry and grassland industry reached 9.28 trillion yuan (about 1.31 trillion U.S. dollars), up 2.3 percent year on year, and more than 2.531 billion trips were recorded in ecotourism.
Indian government has committed to increasing forest cover to five million hectares by 2030. This will help sequester an additional 2.5–3 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent by 2030.
India has a long tradition of community participation in forest restoration, including the Chipko movement in the 1970s. India aims to increase its forest cover from 23% to 33% of its land area by 2030. According to the 2024 India State of Forest Report (ISFR), India’s forest cover increased by 1,540 square kilometers between 2019 and 2024, and is now 21.71% of the country’s total geographical area. However, the National Forest Policy of India states that the ideal percentage of forest cover to maintain ecological stability is at least 33%.
As of March 2024, the Telangana Forest Department announced that the state’s forest area will increase from 24.05% to 33%, in line with the National Forest Policy of 1988. The department is taking several steps to increase the forest cover. Based on the interpretation of IRS Resource sat-2 LISS III satellite data of the period Nov 2017 to Jan 2018, the Forest Cover in the State is 20,582.31 sq km which is 18.36 % of the State’s geographical area. In terms of forest canopy density classes, the State has 1,608.24 sq km under Very Dense Forest (VDF), 8,787.13 sq km under Moderately Dense Forest (MDF) and 10,186.94 sq km under Open Forest (OF). Forest Cover in the State has increased by 163.31 sq km as compared to the previous assessment reported in ISFR 2017. As of 2023,the State has reported extent of recorded forest area (RFA) 26,904 sq km which is 24.00% of its geographical area. The reserved, protected and unclassed forests are 75.65%, 22.07% and 2.28% of the recorded forest area in the State respectively.
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments are supporting private land owners to grow and sell plantation farms in small parcels. In Telangana total 225000 hectares of various plantation farms are being grown for various types of income sources by land owners. Around Hyderabad 5000 Acres of plantation farms are being grown for long term returns by various ventures.
Forest ecosystems and private Plantation Farms are the largest land-based carbon sink on Earth.