ABSTRACT
Afforestation, reforestation, and avoided deforestation have become key strategies in efforts to mitigate climate change. African countries alone have committed to restoring 100 Mha of degraded and deforested land by 2030, and ambitious afforestation and reforestation plans are enshrined in many countries’ contributions to the Paris Agreement. These programs are often framed as ‘win–win’, expected to sequester carbon while delivering environmental and social co-benefits. Yet the history of tree planting campaigns is also one of social conflict and social and environmental trade-offs. Following a review of the literature on these programs’ environmental and social effects, the chapter presents case studies from the Ethiopian and Tanzanian highlands to illustrate how the trade-offs and externalities of afforestation and reforestation might be identified and equitably governed. These cases demonstrate the need to move beyond common assumptions that trees are by definition ecologically beneficial and afforestation a purely technical endeavour. They also illustrate how efforts to intentionally surface divergent interests in trees, coupled with deliberative dialogue to plan interventions that minimise costs and distribute benefits more equitably, can mitigate these trade-offs. The chapter concludes with lessons relevant to the ambitious landscape restoration targets of the present moment.
