Why are a number of African countries planting thousands of trees?

As the climate changes, wind, moisture, and temperature patterns are changing in many African countries, and in certain cases, soil erosion is increasing. Planting trees slows down the wind and keeps it from eroding the soil too much.

A thick enough forest would allow people to gather dead wood for fuel and leave live trees intact to prevent erosion. Many African countries also rely on trees to fuel cooking fires, and many areas are becoming extremely scarce in terms of sticks for fuel. In fact, in some cases, people are actively cutting down live trees for fuel wood, which exacerbates the erosion problem.

Uncertainty surrounds whether the carbon credit scheme would continue to operate under the new Paris climate agreement, but under the Kyoto Protocol, countries could also plant trees to help absorb CO2 and sell carbon credits for cash.

A number of African countries are planting thousands of trees to combat deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, and climate change, as well as to restore ecosystems, promote biodiversity, and provide economic opportunities.