Climate change is one of the major global concerns that everyone is facing now. As this phenomenon alters the natural flow of the environment, especially when it comes to the earth's temperature, every species' life is at risk-that includes humanity.
Given this reason, experts are doing their best to find an answer that could contradict or end this problem. Finally, just recently, scientists have discovered a breakthrough in their studies. That was when they found out the biggest but cheapest way to end climate change.
In the news posted by The Guardian, the scientists behind the study explained how planting trees could reverse the effects of climate change. According to them, the ability of the trees to absorb minerals such as carbon dioxide, is a great way to reduce carbon in the air, which is considered a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.
But since the number of trees are dramatically decreasing now, how many trees should be planted to have an obvious improvement in this phenomenon? The Crowther Lab of ETH Zurich conducted a study that answered this question.
Posted in the journal Science, the group of researchers found pieces of information regarding how we can maximize the trees to help nature. The information they gathered includes the number of hectares of land we should plant more trees, the best location we should plant the trees, and also the possible amount of carbon these trees can absorb from the environment.
The results of the research reveal that approximately about 4.4 billion hectares of land can be filled with trees. With the situation of the world at present, mankind still needs to fill about 1.6 billion hectares more. Also, the researchers found out that if the project will succeed, once fully grown, the total number of trees will be able to store about 205 billion tons of carbon, according to Good News Network.
Moreover, the study also revealed the perfect location to restore the forest. These countries include Russia (151 million hectares), Canada (78.4 million hectares), the US (103 million hectares), Australia (58 million hectares), China (40.2 million hectares), and Brazil (49.7 million hectares).
"Our study shows clearly that forest restoration is the best climate change solution available today," explains co-author of the study and founder of the Crowther Lab at ETH Zurich. "But we must act quickly, as new forests will take decades to mature and achieve their full potential as a source of natural carbon storage," he added.
