A Trillion Trees: How We Can Reforest Our World

by Fred Pearce

**A Book of the Year in The Times and The Sunday Times **

Trees are essential, for nature and for us. Yet we are cutting and burning them at such a rate that we are fast approaching a tipping point.

But there is still hope. If we had a trillion more trees, the damage could be undone. Combining cutting-edge scientific research with vivid travel writing, Fred Pearce shows how we achieve this. Challenging received wisdom about the need for planting, he explains why the best strategy is to stand back, stop the destruction and let nature - and those who dwell in the forests - do the rest.

Lucid, revelatory and often surprising, A Trillion Trees is an environmental call to arms, and a celebration of our planet's vast arboreal riches.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Environment, Science, Audiobook, Climate Change, Sustainability

320 pages, Paperback

Published May 5, 2022

About the author

Fred Pearce is an English author and journalist based in London. He has been described as one of Britain's finest science writers and has reported on environment, popular science and development issues from 64 countries over the past 20 years. He specialises in global environmental issues, including water and climate change, and frequently takes heretic and counter-intuitive views - "a sceptic in the best sense", he says.

Reviews

[L.G. Cullens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this print book as and ARC from Graystone Books, and it took a long time to read because these old eyes usually read ebooks where I can enlarge the print.

Nevertheless, I found the book intriguing, and informative beyond what many are aware of. That in showing how much we need the forests, the tipping points we are reaching in our relentless destructive drive, the missteps in reforestation together with the misdirection of aspects of current conservation "wisdom", and why we should let Nature restore our decimated forests and biodiversity, as opposed to business as usual. What do you think got us into and is exacerbating this mess?

I found this enlightening book both saddening and hopeful, and I believe it is essential reading for everyone in these times.

"Forests long ago made our planet's atmosphere, environment and life-support systems. And they still do it. We mess with their life-support systems at our peril."

My hat is off to those like this author that are trying to expand our understanding of the overriding environmental dilemma we face, especially with so many, consciously or unconsciously, choosing nescience.

[Boy Blue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ironically Pearce can't see the forest for all the trees. While his international record of reporting on deforestation and the environment is unimpeachable, he lacks an ability to bring it all together into a single convincing theory or plan of action. This reads much like case files hurriedly compiled at the end of a career, albeit very fascinating files.

The fundamental problem with trying to create a unified theory of forests is that while it seems clear how incredibly important and beneficial forests can be, they're also so different across the globe, a river estuary with mangroves in Tanzania is not the same as a conifer forest in Siberia. It's very hard to make a universal theory.

One of the major lessons to come from this book is that science is so far off understanding and being able to manage a forest the way indigenous groups can.

It was also fascinating to learn that the great swathes of forest we imagine as some of the last remaining untouched wilderness areas, like the Amazon, are anything but. According to Pearce the Amazon is quite clearly a forest that is made up of trees cultivated by indigenous groups over centuries. In fact Pearce goes quite heavy on some organisation's and government's obsession with untouched wilderness. He actually argues that managed forests, managed in an indigenous wholistic way, not a monocultural way, are almost on par with untouched forest and in certain cases superior. He recognises the benefits of re-wilding and virgin forest but the pragmatism of a forest that supports people in a symbiotic fashion is his main ideal.

There's some fascinating stuff in here and some incredibly important stuff too. The usual suspects get a grilling, the Brazillian ranchers and soya farmers, rogue Indonesian loggers, various dictators, conglomerates etc. But he also scrutinises some of the supposed good being done. China's green ambitions, The Green Belt in Africa, are shown to not necessarily be the great glowing environmental projects they're supposed to be.

If you're into this stuff you'll enjoy this book. There's so many great facts. If you're not into this stuff, you'll find the book messy and frustrating. It's also strange because as you plow further into the book it gets more dense and overgrown with various organisation's names, and legal struggles. Half way through you've probably learnt about 90% of what the book has to teach you. The remaining 10% is like trying to squeeze the last drop out of the lemon.

p.s. I've also developed quite a pet peeve with the use of country sizes as an analogy to create meaning. Pearce said a part of the forest the size of England was cleared, or these people own a part of the forest the size of France way too many times. I've always been suspicious of absolute numbers in a book like this. I want to know a percentage of forest being felled, not an absolute number. Funnily enough I don't go around measuring everything by Frances or Englands.

[Michelle Abel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched, interesting to read. The science in the first part is fascinating. The middle is tough to read because it’s so sad/disturbing. The final parts are very hopeful, and practical. Great to have such a strong focus on Indigenous management of forests. And I will look at the “weed” trees that come up on the edges of my garden differently now.

[Tonstant Weader · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Trillion Trees is one the rare, hopeful books from an environmental perspective. The deforestation of much of the earth’s landmass has been a constant. I remember hearing about Amazonian deforestation back when I was in school and to this day, there are alarming stories of reckless deforestation. However, Fred Pearce demonstrates how again and again, forests surprise us with their persistent resilience.

In the first part of the book, Pearce writes about the many ways trees make life possible. I think nearly everyone knows about photosynthesis. Trees are the world’s lungs breathing in carbon dioxide and breathing out oxygen. That’s cool, but trees do so much more. For example, they alter the temperature of the surrounding area. They also form “flying rivers” bring rain to the interior. They make the planet livable. And they are in trouble.

In the second part, Pearce breaks readers’ hearts by recounting so many ways trees are being over-harvested and destroyed. He reviews the history of harvesting and the many uses trees serve in business.

In the third part, he talks about government efforts to reforest, to save the trees by planting more. Tree-planting is popular with many companies offering to plant a tree if you buy x, y, or z. Reading the book raised my awareness of the many corporate programs that plant trees. But it turns out not all tree planting is the same and really, trees know better than we do what needs to happen.

While there may be a U.N. plan to plant a trillion trees, but Pearce argues that we will make more progress if we listened to the people living where the trees are and trust trees to rewild themselves more effectively that the more typical tree plantations that get planted.



This book made me feel a rare bit of environmental optimism. Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, and we have increasingly extreme weather, but trees are making a comeback. Pearce makes a good argument for stricter limits on tree-cutting and tree-planting that listens to indigenous people among the trees and to the trees themselves.

I only have one quibble, but it’s a big one. The book felt repetitious, saying the same thing again and again. It is optimistic. The most interesting part was the first, learning how wonderful trees and miraculous trees are. It got boring at times, mostly because I felt he was driving the point home again and again.

I received an ARC of A Trillion Trees from the publisher through Shelf Awareness

A Trillion Trees at Greystone Books
Fred Pearce at Yale School of the Environment and at The Guardian

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found the book interesting and very enlightening. Realized deforesting effects a lot more than just carbon remove from the air. Although it discusses many ways the world is trying to correct the problem, it really comes down to Mother nature herself and those that actually live on the land.

[˚✧⁎˟★marie★˖*✧˳ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Trillion Trees: How We Can Reforest Our World by Fred Pearce was extremely interesting read. It was published just last year in 2021 and is more relevant than ever in these times of the ever-present threat of climate change.
Fred Pearce does not offer a concrete solution, but shows several case studies from around the world. From Asia to Africa to South America, Pearce highlights different forestry practices and their impacts. At the beginning of the book, most of the examples seem negative, contributing to a We-Are-Completely-Fucked-And-Climate-Change-Is-Going-To-Wipe-Us-All-Out-Soon mindset.
But we shouldn't lose hope, the author shows us many examples of how we can also lead to a reforested future.

"The world’s forests will be restored not by trying to recreate the past, but by providing the space for such forests to find their own new future."

"If we are to save, nurture and restore the world’s forests, the best expertise for achieving that is alive and well, living in those forests right now. They cannot be bystanders in the conservation of their territories. They should - and must - be in charge of the process."

My only concern with non-fiction books like this is that everything will be outdated in a few years. Policies are constantly changing, and while I hope that's not the case, we may take different paths than Pearce suggests.
In addition, non-fiction books that use a lot of case studies and take the reader on a journey tend to be redundant and repeat the same message multiple times, which was the case with this book.

Overall, I liked the new perspectives this book offered and learned a lot of new things. I hope that with A Trillion Trees: How We Can Reforest Our World, Fred Pearce can contribute to a better future with more trees.

[Allan Dyen-Shapiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written by an environmental journalist. As such, it is more engaging in its writing style than typical works of ecology, especially the first part. Or, maybe it's because I was unfamiliar with the work on "flying rivers" (the role of transpiration in recycling moisture and carrying water on paths throughout vast territories), or the "biotic pump" (the negative pressure from condensation into water droplets of transpired water vapor that draws in wind), or the extent of methane and nitrous oxide emission by trees in the Amazon. The amount of travel this author did is quite remarkable. His focus on the misguided policies, the popular but wrong explanations of science, and the politics driving policy was wisely chosen. It's very worth reading. That being said, any such treatment must be selective. Sure, the winds at the start of the Amazon's flying river always flowing inland regardless of the season is a pretty good argument that the biotic pump or something like it must exist. But that's not the case in other parts of the world. The indigenous communities wisely managing forest resources with government scientists being dead wrong--let's give that a sometimes. I did, however, appreciate the author's resisting a one-size-fits-all narrative--no bumper sticker slogans emerge from his arguments.

This book is hard to summarize. Each detail, each vignette, each mini-history was generally worth reading.

I'd recommend this book to anyone working in or concerned with global environmental issues.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this, I feel much more informed about the complex politics around deforestation and reforestation. It covers helpful information about why forests are important, why it's so hard for us to agree on how land should be allocated, and what steps need to be taken to preserve the world's jungles and forests (and scrubland/grasslands). There is generous real estate in the book given to the important topic of entrusting indigenous peoples to steward the land they've occupied for generations, which was encouraging. Reading about deforestation and human rights violations is tough, but I finished the book with a sense of optimism. I will probably read this again in a few years.

[Robin Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book! Fred Pearce has put together in an accessible form years of accumulated research and experience. He overturns a lot of wrong assumptions. I share his central thesis which is that local communities are the best placed to manage forests sustainably whether it's in Africa, South America or Asia. However given that today, over 80% of African tropical hardwoods are exported to Asia I have my reservations. Illegal forest trade flows represent millions of dollars. Are local communities particularly in Africa, capable of fighting back against what sums up to organised crime largely based on corruption? Little wonder if organizations such as Interpol are now tackling this issue.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I liked about this book was that it seemed like the author had a balanced opinion going into his research period. I was able to see him transition away from the vacuum-like scenarios similar researchers have observed their subject and introduce the reality of our modern situation and how that impacts the best path forward, a path that’s based in reality.

Worth the read.

[Tofupup · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fit well with some of the other books I've read recently about forests and hydrology. It was especially important to learn more about how the world's forests can be managed best by indigenous inhabitants.

[Chrome · Rating 4 out of 5]

wonderful to learn so much about trees and forests, a topic dear to my heart. It is also heartening
to find so much optimism. I grew up in Sudbury Ontario, where the forests were destroyed
utterly and the hills were bare black rock. In my lifetime the forests have returned.

[Caroline Sykes]

Timely

Interesting with someo challenging new ideas. It is an interesting idea to allow people to farm forest in order to save and increase forest cover.

[John Paul Gairhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

“We need trees for our souls.”

[Alec Shuttleworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptional an accessible insight into forests worldwide

[Livio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is not much about how, is more a report on what's being done. Still a nice read

[Nicolas Levy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Trillion Trees is a fantastic, comprehensive tour through the planet's forests and the people that inhabit them. In a brisk 300 pages, Fred Pearce covers some of the latest and exciting science about how forests modulate our climate and water resources; chronicles the environmental and social pressures facing the world's most significant forests; and provides compelling examples of how local and Indigenous communities are often better stewards of forests than we might think. Pearce writes with a deep compassion for trees and wisdom of the many ways in which they contribute to our environmental, physical, social, and mental health. Yet, he is no prisoner to tired shibboleths of the environmental community: with clear-eyed prose, he explains situations in which afforestation may exacerbate climate change (e.g. by changing the albedo effect in deserts and emitting volatile organic compounds), and why what is often seen as "virgin" forest is usually a mirage - these are often the centuries-old legacies of active cultivation by ancient civilizations.

It is this fascinating history of how various cultures in Central America, South America, and Europe have long wild-tended their forests that is perhaps the most significant contribution of this book. When viewed in such historical perspective, it becomes easier to see how the active involvement of local communities - including selective harvesting and forest-clearing - is so vital to maintaining healthy forest cover over the long term. Similarly, we more clearly see how splashy campaigns to re-forest the Sahara Desert are almost certainly doomed to fail; if forests have not existed there for centuries, why would we expect such capital-intensive efforts to be sustainable over centuries?Instead, Pearce advocates for a pragmatic, long-term view of restoring forests where they have been shown to support livelihoods, and where human wild-tending has contributed to the growth of forests. Through this paradigm, effective policy solutions to our deforestation and climate problems can be found in empowering local and Indigenous communities with the titles and control to make land use decisions in these important biomes, rather than relying on protected areas that are imposed from the top down (and often suffer from shifting political pressures).

Pearce makes these important points through a truly global tour of the world's forests. In addition to learning more about the natural and social science behind forests, this book is a real treat just through travelling vicariously through many fascinating biomes and cultures. This is an important and fun read that will surely leave the reader with a different perspective of the forests they encounter, from the local city green to the large national parks.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one felt like a compilation of the reporter's investigations taken over years and decades even, revolving around the subject of forests, from the science of how they dictate the climate by creating rain for thousands of kilometers inland, the brief history of deforestation since the earliest civilizations in the tropics, in Europe and North America, and to the more recent topic of reforestation whether deliberate or natural. Many topics are dealt with along the way, from the exportation of deforestation as countries grow richer, to the debate about saving or sharing of nature with human activities like farming. As with his other books, nothing is really covered in a satisfactory in-depth manner as the author hops to different spots all over the world looking at case studies.

Much of the later part trumpets the effectiveness and good of allowing forests to be managed by local communities, be they indigenous tribes or just local settlers. This concept, known as Other Effective Conservation Measures, or OECM, seems to be politically trendy of late, but the devil is always in the details of how the land or resource is being managed. So much of environmental issues is also about social justice, with the poor and powerless sidelined and marginalized by corporate and elite interests. While the exploitation of forests, clearing them for agri-businesses is almost always worse than letting locals sustainably harvest its produce, the former is ultimately driven by demand from an urban population that is ever increasing globally. How we can moderate the insatiable demand and give more land over to local communities is not addressed at all unfortunately, though understandably it is a complex subject beyond the scope of such a book.

[Tom Kiefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fred Pearce's A Trillion Trees is great eye-opening education on the action and importance of trees and forests in the Earth's overall biosphere and hydrosphere, the practices and policies that threaten that importance (contributing to local and possibly global climate changes), plus plenty of high-profile plans mitigate or reverse the damage that don't seem to work so well and some quieter ones that do.

There's a lot in there, and it can feel like a lot to absorb, but it's all woven together nicely and presented in a story-telling style that I found easy to read and follow. Even if I don't remember every event and concept presented, I did come away with a significantly expanded understanding of the important role trees and forests play in Earth's climate, how the effects of that role has changed over time in response to extensive logging and deforesting, replanting projects, and both government and indigenous approaches to land and forest management.

If you're interested in and/or concerned about Earth's climate and water cycles, how they've changed over time, and what we might be doing to them, A Trillion Trees feels like a must-read.

[Nathan Gilliatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forests are a lovely thing. They (re)generate rainfall and enrich the soil. They provide food, timber and more for people, while providing prime habitat for other living things. Forests moderate the local weather and help stabilize the climate, but we’ve destroyed vast areas of forest, and so we get initiatives to plant more trees. In this book. Fred Pearce argues against that approach. What’s needed instead is to let the forests regrow themselves, and empower the indigenous peoples who live there manage them. The book is his evidence for that argument.

I enjoyed this book. The early chapters taught me things I didn’t know about forests, including some archaeological evidence that contradicts what history taught about major forests, including the Amazon rainforest (not the untouched state of nature that we thought). It gets into complexities of deforestation, including some that has nothing to do with using the land that is cleared. Later chapters compare the performance of government- and NGO-sponsored forest preserves to that of the actively managed forests of indigenous peoples. It seems that removing the population and declaring a protected area hasn’t done of great job of protecting remaining forests, especially compared to the husbandry of forest-dwelling cultures.

There’s a lot in this book, but Pearce’s writing style makes for pleasant reading. If you have any interest in the topic, I think you’ll enjoy this book.

[P]

Interesting work, though I'm still waiting for that book that examines the issue of restoring forests in depth, looking at it from multiple sides.
The key message of the book seems to be that nature does restoration better than humans, and in human hierarchy indigenous people are the best at maintaining conserved complex ecosystems. I'm totally not arguing with that, in fact it blew my mind many years ago when I first came across that news. But what does it mean specifically? What makes indigenous people and forest communities such good land stewards, besides... their identity and knowledge? Are there lessons others can learn from them, or the only way forward is to let them in charge and step back? Asking for a friend, because there are no indigenous people where I am from (Europe) and people there still need flourishing ecosystems. Of course, there is a solution, "abandoning farmland" (apparently the major factor driving forest regrowth in many European countries, and even some regions in the US), but seriously, can that work in the long run? Don't we have a bit of a tension there?

Sure, I don't want to be asking that the book focus on things that the author didn't intend to tackle in the first place, but I guess I kind of expected this from a book about reforesting the planet.

All in all: it didn't blow my mind, left me with a lot of questions, but I appreciate the synthesis, the case studies and the references. Glad to have read it.

[Curtis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will admit I was a little uncertain when it comes to an entire book about trees. But Pearce has a writing and narrative style that captured my attention and made this into a definite page-turner. Be prepared for your understanding and beliefs about the deforestation crisis to be challenged and enlightened. The problems are more complex than I understood, but the solutions may actually be much simpler.

(Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review.)

[Brian Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covered deforestation worldwide along with forest preservation programs. Good description of Farm Managed Natural Regeneration including farms and farming regions where there is good tree cover regeneration and benefits to farmers. The other forest protection approach is community-managed forests where a community of forest residents are given ownership of 100,000s of acres of forest. Cited examples are of these forests being managed sustainably with economic benefits to forest communities. Well written and easy to follow.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did a very slow, careful read of this fantastic book. I am in great awe of those scientists and journalists who keep an eye on deforestion in this world. We have lost priceless forests and with them their unique flora and fauna. Bless those who strive so hard to ensure a better world for our children. If you can read this and still not believe in global warming then I weep for your souls.

Thank you to LibraryThing and Greystone Books for a copy for my review.

[Eleanor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book well researched and enlightening and hopeful and sad at the same time.