• This article reports the benefits, economics, and logistics of planting tree plantations on degraded land as a method for reducing greenhouse gas concentrations.
• Tree plantations are presented as an excellent land-based climate change mitigation strategy because they sequester carbon and divert deforestation from other land.
• This article presents data on the financial and environmental metrics related to different models of afforestation.

Positives

• This article describes the methodologies and cites the resources used to project the costs and benefits of tree plantations on degraded land.
• Students may feel hopeful when learning about afforestation on degraded land because it is a simple solution to understand and is already in practice in some areas.

Additional Prerequisites

• Learners should be familiar with carbon sinks, deforestation, and afforestation.
• Learners with limited experience with scientific papers or economics may need additional support with the technical way the data, resources, and projections are presented.

Differentiation

• Consider having students compare and contrast this solution to other tree-based solutions on the same website, such as tree intercropping or tropical rainforest reforestation.
• Science students could add up all of the tree- and nature-based solutions to calculate the total impact of protecting and restoring natural ecosystems, then compare it to other solutions.
  
• As an extension activity have students research and propose areas of marginal or degraded land in their communities that could benefit from tree plantings.
• As an outdoor activity, have students map out areas on their school grounds where native plants and trees could be planted instead of turf grass to increase carbon storage and provide additional wildlife habitat.
  
• This analysis provides opportunities for cross-curricular connections to economics and math when analyzing the data in the paper, or for geography classes that could use this interactive map of global forests.

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.