Ecosystems & Pathways
Afforestation
Establishing forest on land that has not recently carried forest, creating a new carbon stock.
Afforestation converts another land use — usually pasture or cropland — into forest. Because the starting stock is low, the potential gain per hectare is large and measurable.
The risks are equally large: competition with food production, water use, tenure conflict and the possibility that the new forest stores less than claimed if survival is poor or fire intervenes.
Frequently asked questions
How does it differ from reforestation?
By the history of the land. Afforestation applies where forest has been absent long enough that the land use changed.
Is it always a net climate benefit?
Only if establishment succeeds and does not displace the previous land use elsewhere.