Ethiopia's tree-planting drive is really working to store carbon
Mengistu DK, Terefe H, Lakew BF, Tilahun A, Hailemariam BN
Climate Adaptation
If you've ever wondered whether mass tree-planting campaigns actually do anything, this study measured over 8,000 real trees across Ethiopia and found the answer is yes, especially when farmers mix trees with crops instead of planting single-species forests.
Ethiopia has been planting huge numbers of trees as part of a national restoration effort, and scientists wanted to know if it was actually pulling meaningful carbon out of the atmosphere. They measured over 8,000 trees across 90 species and found that farms mixing trees with crops stored the most carbon, and that native trees consistently beat non-native ones. One standout native species, a podocarpus relative called Afrocarpus falcatus, stored an enormous amount of carbon per tree, showing that picking the right species matters as much as how many trees you plant.
Key Findings
Agroforestry systems had the highest carbon storage (133.74 Mg/ha) and CO2e sequestration (490.81 Mg/ha) among all land-use types studied.
Afrocarpus falcatus was the top-performing species, storing roughly 308 Mg carbon and 1,131 Mg CO2e per hectare.
Species composition explained 56% of variation in carbon storage, far outweighing region, land-use type, and management practices combined (only 6%).
chevron_right Technical Summary
Ethiopia's massive tree-planting program is genuinely pulling significant carbon out of the air, with mixed farm-and-tree systems and native species proving far better at storing carbon than tree plantations using foreign species.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Ethiopia's green legacy initiative enhances carbon stock and carbon dioxide sequestration across diverse landscapes.
Ethiopia's Green Legacy Initiative (GLI) is one of the world's largest landscape restoration programs, yet its contribution to carbon sequestration across diverse land uses and agroecological zones...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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Afrocarpus falcatus is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is native to the montane forests of southern Africa, where it is distributed in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, and Eswatini. Common names include common yellowwood, bastard yellowwood, outeniqua yellowwood, African pine t...