Trees are somehow a focus for my life. Ayurveda teaches that I should be like a tree: no-harm, no killing, no lying, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no intoxicants. Simple clean food offered freely, with fresh air and rain. And a place to stand and grow - upward and downward.
Earth molds water. Water nourishes trees. Trees touch the earth and feel the air. Trees stand apart from all philosophy, and yet are subject to our philosophy, our economy. Strange that in my job I plan the cutting of hundreds of trees from computer documents and databases. Somehow I am both, I have my roots in the reality of trees and mud, but my arms in the ethereal computer worlds of planning and economy, laws.
Can I do something to balance the world, something electronic for the trees?
Forest Reforestation
There are problems with many reforestation efforts. Monocultures that don't help local people, protests around the world against REDD+. In Japan, people are waking up to the problem. (Link) The problem of monoculture or few species planted in US cities has led to invasive insect pests wiping out large areas, for example in Worcester, MA. The International Society of Arboriculture says the goal should be to follow the 20% rule (max 20% of any genus/species).
Example solutions: Health in Harmony listen to people. They give people healthcare, pay them to plant and monitor forest. Other groups like Eden also pay people to plant. Trees for the Future tries to create sustainable agroforestry. Search engine ecosia donates money to these and other organizations.
But I have concerns about cost effectiveness and the ability to scale. TFTF has only helped a few thousand farmers in the 30 years they've been around. But CharityNavigator rates these groups highly; they have good governance, but they may not be as effective.
Policy action to improve REDD+ payments could make a huge difference, but the scale is too big for me to think about, and maybe for anyone. There will always be problems with a system that big. The Effective Altruism community's assessment of Coalition of Rainforest Nations (CoRN) tries in vain to wrap their analysis around policy. Policy is just too amorphous to apply straightforward risk and return.
WRI's Global Forest Tracker (10 year report on deforestation) will be important to measure and monitor leakage. Mondabay also has good rainforest statistics page.
WRI supports restoration with venture capital as a way to scale, it is unclear how this makes money. they speak in corporate-ease, another example of how the real work is in board rooms or on the ground? Its hard to tell.
Ecosia has nice on-the-ground videos showing the work they support.
Conclusion
I need to research more, learn more. Restoration is a passion project for me, but to be professional it may need to be something like WRI or EDF. But i'm not a corporate person, being in the field is what inspires me. Maybe, like a tree, I can grow from the earth and reach into board rooms?
