We have to focus on restoration, not modification

A few days ago, I came across a very shocking research. I also agree with that research. The research revealed that indiscriminate tree planting will also contribute to climate change crisis! The research further stated that most of the countries are haphazardly planting trees without identifying suitable sites, but sunlight and soil also have a direct relationship. Also, indiscriminate tree plantation is fatal for pollination and biodiversity. Because nature has set a characteristic for every geography and without considering that characteristic, if trees are planted or systems continue to take pride in growing greenbelts, the climate will not benefit. Rather, it will harm the climate due to lack of proper biodiversity or pollination.

As said earlier, I agree with this research 100%. Because my personal experience has been something like this. I have been planting trees since 2014 and working for climate action. I have seen in this field people who are pretending to do better than actually doing good work or people who are taking home crores of rupees from big companies in the name of climate action. There is also a section who use climate action and tree plantation activities to set their political goals or for their vested interests. One quality is very common among all such people! That is, without any kind of research, they plant trees wherever they like. And not just planting trees but such people also select the species at their will ignoring compatibility geographical data or land.

Because such people never have anything to do with environmental protection. Such people either make money from corporates by making environmental protection a shield or they have to set their own political goals! Due to this, trees of non-native species have been planted in several hectares of land only in India. The trees that are not useful in biodiversity or those that are not useful in pollination or water conservation.

Also, the issue here is not only non-native trees. A single city or state has different geographical conditions. So it is also necessary to plant trees according to the geographical condition. There was a time when the entire Western Belt had wetlands. Then urbanization took place, and the wetlands were encroached upon, and houses were prepared by filling the soil. Clusters of those houses are now part of the city, where there is a large human population. That is why the systems of the cities or the so-called environmentalists thought that we need a green belt in front of so much human population. So those great people will plant trees only keeping in mind the green belt! But everyone will forget that the place was a wetland for millions of years. Which had its own biodiversity and that biodiversity had an impact on human life, too!

The same is happening with hilly states or snowy regions or plains where only grass is needed. Amidst all this, a new fraud has come in the form of carbon credits. In India, this system has not yet been implemented. But in Western countries, plantations are being done indiscriminately without research to get carbon credits. In which the need has been focused on taking carbon credits by planting trees and increasing the green belt, but no one focuses on which trees should be planted in which place!

See, our seniors who are very serious about the environment coined a term years ago. 'Ecosystem Restoration'. We have to focus on the word restoration. This earth has been created by upheavals of millions of years. Also, the atmosphere here is millions of years old. At such a time, in the last fifty years, we have made drastic changes in the name of urbanization or industrialization, and then planting trees at will will not work! We have to restore the natural legacy of millions of years. We don't want to modify or beautify it. Nature has not given us any such rights.

But we are the ones who continue to do plantations for no reason in the name of so-called activism. But we have come to such a turning point in climate change that we dont have much time now. A single or small mistake can prove to be very fatal for us, the ill effects of which will be felt by our next generation for decades.