Liberal leader Justin Trudeau promised that a second-term government under his leadership would use revenues from the Trans Mountain pipeline to pay for a C$3-billion plan to use nature to combat climate change. The plan will see to two billion trees being planted over the next decade.
The tree planting promise is “part of a broader $3-billion fund for natural climate solutions that will support efforts across the country to better manage, conserve, and restore forests, grasslands, agricultural lands, wetlands, and coastal areas. These landscapes all help store and take carbon pollution out of the air—whether that is grasses taking carbon into their roots and the surrounding soil, or healthy wetlands keeping centuries of carbon in the ground.”
Trudeau said during a speech, as his son Xavier and daughter Ella-Grace stood nearby with supporters and local Liberal candidates:
Nature isn’t just part of our identity as Canadians, it’s also a part of the solution to climate change and it’s a solution we can start using today. Trees are remarkable. They pull carbon out of the atmosphere. They are renewable and they’re sustainable and, eventually, they even recycle themselves. All we have to do is plant the first one.
The pledge follows a recent study that suggests trees could play a huge role in reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide – although, the role of trees in fighting climate change has been generally understood for some time. As far as the study goes, it was conducted by Swiss researchers back in June and it states that planting trees could be the most effective and cost-efficient way to fight climate change because of their ability to capture and store carbon dioxide, particularly when they are young and growing. The research was published in the journal Science.
What really connects Canada to the study however is how the research revealed that there is enough space worldwide to plant over one trillion trees without affecting existing cities or farmland, and Canada is listed among six nations with the space to handle a large share of such efforts.
University of Ottawa biology professor Jeremy Kerr, said:
Canada can’t plant 500 billion trees inside Canada, but we can do our part. While the strategy will only deliver climate benefits if it’s accompanied by other forms of decarbonization, two billion trees is actually a pretty reasonable contribution to that total global requirement to address the huge pool of carbon that we’ve dumped in the atmosphere. Those trees pull that carbon right back out. This is incredibly timely, because the science is now incredibly clear.
As a bonus, the tree-planting plan alone will create around 3,500 seasonal jobs, explained Trudeau, in addition to offsetting 30 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Tree planting is not as simple as just planting a seed. Forests Ontario and Forest Recovery Canada CEO Rob Keen explained:
The complexity of tree planting is far greater than many realize; from seed forecasting and collection to monitoring tree survival. We conduct site assessments to determine the best-suited species for the site; use native trees grown in local nurseries with source-identified seed stock; and have expert local partners who undertake the planting, conduct survival assessments, and deliver appropriate care. All steps of the process are completed with an unmatched level of accountability and are reported online and in real time.
Each province is different, and each province has a different range of species,” she told The Mix in an interview. “We really do need to rely on the local professionals who know their forest types and topography and know what should be planted.
The 2 billion trees are in addition to the roughly 600 million that are already planted across Canada each year. The promise to plant them has come a few months after the federal government stepped in to save a tree-planting program from budget cuts in Ontario.
