The global movement to restore natures biodiversity Thomas Crowther
Transcriber: TED Translators Admin
Reviewer: Rhonda Jacobs
(Birds chirping)
What you’re hearing
is the sound of a native
forest in Southern Europe.
The calm, tranquil feeling
we all get is not a coincidence.
We all evolved in ecosystems like this,
where the sounds of birds and insects
indicated the possibility
of food, medicines
and all the resources
we need for survival.
Ecosystems and their biodiversity
still hold the key to life on this planet.
I’m obsessed with this biodiversity,
the magic of the infinite network,
where every species depends
on others to survive.
For most of my career,
I focused on just one
of those fascinating connections
between insects and fungi in the soil.
I longed to understand
the scale of these networks
and to understand how they might help us
with one of the greatest
challenges facing humanity:
our rapidly warming planet.
The problem is clear.
We know we need to reduce our emissions
and draw the existing carbon
out of the atmosphere,
stop the damage and start the repair.
And this is where forests can help.
Like all plants, trees capture carbon
from the atmosphere,
and they use it for growth.
And some of that carbon enters the soil,
where it can stay for hundreds
or even thousands of years.
If we could stop the losses
of forests around the world,
we could directly help
to cut our annual emissions.
And if we could start to tip the balance
in the other direction,
we might even help the repair process.
But if people were really going to invest
their valuable time and energy
in a solution like this,
we needed to comprehend
the size of this opportunity
and understand the impacts
that we can have as individuals.
But comprehending something of this scale
was a completely new challenge
for me and my colleagues.
For this, we needed the knowledge
of experts all over the world.
So we began building a new network.
The more people we contacted,
the more data we received,
and the more clearly
patterns began to emerge.
With data from over 1.2 million forests,
we were able to build
new machine learning models
to predict forest
structure around the world.
For the first time,
we could see that our earth is home
to just over three trillion trees,
almost half of what existed
before human civilization.
We could see where the different
species are distributed
and how carbon is stored
in this massive system.
But this approach could also show us
something more transformative.
Using the same models, we could begin
to see where trees might naturally grow
under the existing climate.
And this suggested
that outside of urban
and agricultural areas,
there’s 0.9 billion hectares
where trees would naturally exist.
And this is room for just over
one trillion new trees.
We estimated that if we could protect
these areas in the long term,
then the soils and vegetation
might capture up to 30 percent
of the excess carbon in the atmosphere,
capturing decades of human emissions.
We now have a wealth of ongoing research
to refine these initial estimates.
But the scale of this potential
suggests that along with all the other
benefits these ecosystems provide,
they might also represent a valuable role
in our fight against climate change.
When our research was accepted
to be published in the journal Science,
nothing could have prepared us
for the media explosion that followed.
Suddenly, it seemed like the whole world
was talking about the potential of trees.
Under the umbrella of the UN Decade
on Ecosystem Restoration,
the World Economic Forum
launched their Trillion Trees Campaign
to go alongside similar efforts
from the WWF and United Nations.
Suddenly, governments and companies
all around the world
were pledging their commitment
to the restoration of earth’s forests.
And with the job creation
that would result,
the idea of a global restoration movement
was becoming a reality.
But in the excitement of it all,
and with the chance to make that
positive impact I’d always dreamed of,
I made some naive and stupid
mistakes in communication
that threatened the entire message.
The simplicity of our message
was its strength,
but it came at the expense
of nuance that is so important.
And as the headlines began to emerge,
I desperately just wanted
to pull them back in.
Because to some, it seemed like
we were proposing restoration
as the single solution to climate change.
And this is the opposite
of what this movement needs.
When viewed through this lens,
restoration just seems
like an easy way out,
a chance for us to “offset our emissions”
by planting a few trees
and ignore the very real
and urgent challenges of cutting emissions
and protecting the ecosystems
that we currently have.
Restoration is not a silver bullet.
There is no silver bullet.
It is just one of a huge
portfolio of solutions
that we so desperately need.
And this view of trees as an easy way out
is such a tempting perspective,
but it is a real threat
to the climate change movement
and to the ecosystems that still remain.
(Faint sounds)
This is also the sound of trees.
It’s a eucalyptus plantation
that exists just a couple of miles
away from where we began.
Notice how there were no sounds
of birds or insects.
The songs of biodiversity are gone.
That’s because what you’re hearing
is not an ecosystem.
It’s a monoculture
of one single tree species
planted for rapid tree growth.
Along with the biodiversity
that used to live here,
this local community has now lost
the benefits those ecosystems provided,
like clean water, soil fertility,
and most urgently,
protection from the intense fires
that now threaten the region every summer.
The UN suggests that almost half
of reforested areas around the world
are monocultures just like this,
planted for rapid timber
production or carbon capture.
Just like a farm, these plantations
may be valuable for timber,
but they are not
the restoration of nature.
And monocultures
are just one of the many ways
we can damage ecosystems
when we offset our emissions
without considering the local ecology
or the people that depend on it.
Following these mistakes,
a second wave of articles flooded in,
warning of the risks
of restoration done wrong.
And this criticism was so painful
because it was entirely correct.
But most of all,
I was terrified that we would squander
this incredible opportunity,
because restoration has such
enormous potential for positive impact.
But just like every good idea,
it only works if we get it right.
But as the dust settled,
we realized that this was actually a time
when the entire movement
gained real momentum.
More people than ever
were interested in global restoration,
and with messages flooding in
about the successes and failures
of restoration projects around the world,
we had access to the lessons
that can help us to get it right.
Every new criticism offered incredible
opportunities to learn and grow.
Every failed restoration example
was a lesson on how
to improve future projects.
These learnings were
an entirely new source of data –
data from the real heroes
of this movement,
from the people on the ground
who were conserving and managing
ecosystems around the world.
No one knows their ecosystems more,
and no one is more aware
of the risks of restoration done wrong
and the need for accurate
ecological information
to show the best areas to focus on,
which species can exist in those regions,
and what benefits those species
can provide to the community.
Historically, these are questions
that have been addressed
through years of rigorous trial and error.
But we started wondering:
What if we fed this deep
on-the-ground knowledge
back into our machine-learning models
to learn from the thousands
of successes and failures?
Could this help us to identify
which strategies are working
and failing around the world?
And about a year ago,
we started working with Google
to help build and scale this idea
into a functioning online ecosystem,
where projects from around the world
can learn and grow together.
By pairing Google’s technology
and our models,
this ever-growing network of scientists,
restoration projects, and NGOs
could now build the platform
that could serve the restoration movement.
And I am so excited
to give you a first glimpse
of what we’ve been working on.
This is Restor, an open data platform
for the restoration movement,
providing free ecological insights
to show which species of trees, grasses,
or shrubs might exist in that region,
monitoring of projects
so that we can all see the developments
happening on the ground.
And most importantly,
for the sharing of ecological information
so that restoration organizations
can learn one another
and so that funders can find
and track projects to support.
Restor is a digital
ecosystem for restoration.
The more data the community uploads,
the stronger the predictions get
and the more informed
action we can all take.
Putting the learnings
of thousands of projects
into the hands of people everywhere.
And this ecosystem is much bigger
than just planting trees.
Trees are just the symbol
for entire ecosystem restoration.
Restor is for the protection
of land so trees can recover,
for the amendment of soil
so vegetation can return,
and for the thousands
of other approaches used
to promote the health
of grasslands, peatlands,
and all other ecosystems that are equally
important for life on earth.
Whether you want to support
a wetland conservation project
with huge carbon potential
or simply find which species of plant
might exist in your garden
and how much soil carbon
they could accumulate,
with this tool,
we hope that everyone everywhere
will have a chance to engage
in the restoration movement.
The word “restore” is defined
as the act of returning something
back to its original state,
but it’s also the act of returning it
back to its original owners.
The restoration of nature
is for the local biodiversity
and the communities that depend on it.
And as that network grows,
the collective action benefits everyone.
And these benefits go far beyond
the threat of climate change.
Even if climate change stopped right now,
the protection and rebuilding
of earth’s biodiversity
would still be a top priority
because it underpins all life on earth.
It can help us with all other
global threats,
including extreme
weather events, droughts,
food shortages and global pandemics.
But global restoration won’t be easy,
and it will not be solved
by tech solutions alone.
These tools can inform us,
but ultimately the challenge is one
that can only be addressed by us,
by all of us.
Just like the interdependent species
that make up natural ecosystems,
we humans are deeply
dependent on one another.
We need the immense network
of limitless connections,
the farmers and project
leaders on the ground
who need local markets and industries
to make use of sustainable products.
The scientists, governments,
NGOs, businesses, you, me,
we are all needed
to keep this movement going.
We need the whole ecology of humanity.
Thank you.