Researchers have identified exactly where we can plant a certain amount of trees in order to stop the climate crisis in its tracks.
The researchers calculated that under the current climate conditions, Earth’s land could support 4.4 billion hectares of continuous tree cover. That is 1.6 billion more than the currently existing 2.8 billion hectares. Of these 1.6 billion hectares, 0.9 billion hectares fulfill the criterion of not being used by humans. This means that there is currently an area of the size of the US available for tree restoration. Once mature, these new forests could store 205 billion tonnes of carbon: about two thirds of the 300 billion tonnes of carbon that has been released into the atmosphere as a result of human activity since the Industrial Revolution.
In a review of half the world's fisheries, scientists found that fish stocks were stable or increasing in most countries that managed their fishing.
You may have cheered some of the many GNN reports of critically-endangered species rebounding after human intervention—like, declining numbers of humpback whales, green sea turtles, and bald eagles entirely reversed by conservation heroes.
Another area of environmental degradation that is now turning around in the right direction is the surprising recovery of fish stocks.
In the most comprehensive review of fisheries’ management and fishing management on a per region basis, to date, an international team of researchers concluded that fish stocks are mostly increasing in these world waters.
In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research team gathered data from 50% of the world’s fish stocks, which include harvest rate, recovery rate, fishing pressure, and population numbers, as well as 50% of the world’s fisheries—including management strategies, fluctuations, and predictions in maximum sustainable yield.
The conclusion provided in their paper is striking—good news that may be surprising to most. Where commercial fishing is managed, stocks are growing.
“This article compiles estimates of the status of fish stocks from all available scientific assessments, comprising roughly half of the world’s fish catch,” the authors begin, “and shows that, on average, fish stocks are increasing where they are assessed.”
“Where fisheries are intensively managed, the stocks are above target levels or rebuilding.”
As a means of combatting national deforestation, Ethiopian officials say that they may have just broken the world record for most trees planted in one day.
