It is certainly of urgent concern that between a third and half of our planet’s 58,500 tree species are at risk of extinction, as your editorial (5 September) highlighted. When trees are threatened, so are ecosystems, as well as the human communities dependent upon them.
But while it is true the “chief culprit” is habitat destruction by logging, farming and grazing, it is a false dichotomy to place human activity in opposition to forest conservation – and it is great to see the Guardian recognise this.
As the piece highlights, the Amazon was shaped for thousands of years by the close relationship between humans and their surroundings. For any ecosystem to truly thrive in a sustainable way, communities need to be at the heart of restoration and protection efforts.
As CEO of Tree Aid, which has worked in the African Sahel for decades on land restoration and reforestation, I’ve seen how agroforestry systems and regenerative agriculture enable communities to work with, not against, nature. Only by reinforcing this link can we deal with the intertwined challenges of poverty, malnutrition and ecosystem degradation together.
This is not a choice between tree protection versus planting, but a choice of sustainably managed ecosystems with humans as an integral part. This must be holistic to succeed; involving access rights, awareness raising, skills building, farmer-managed natural regeneration and planting, as well as protection. Let’s put the either/or debate finally to rest, for people as well as for the planet.
Tom Skirrow
CEO of Tree Aid, Bristol
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