Opinion The solution for the melting polar ice caps may be hiding in the rainforest Dr Paul Salaman

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5. New Scientist - Planting forests won’t stop global warming

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20587-planting-forests-wont-stop-global-warming/

To get a fuller picture, Vivek Arora of Environment Canada and the University of Victoria, British Columbia, and Alvaro Montenegro of St Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada, used a computer model to estimate the overall effect of reforesting.

They used what they admit are “somewhat extreme” scenarios in which half or all of the world’s croplands have been converted to forests by 2060. Foresting all or half the world’s cropland reduced global temperatures in 2100 by 0.45 °C and 0.25 °C respectively.

Arora reckons that no more than 10 to 15 per cent of existing cropland is likely to be forested, so the effects will be even smaller. “The overall temperature benefits of any realistic afforestation efforts are expected to be marginal,” he says.

We've released, and are continuing to release, so much carbon annually that even massive reforestation and natural carbon sequestration won't make a substantial dent for centuries. Such is the depth of the hole we've dug for ourselves.