Tree-Planting Drones Reforesting the World in Record Time #WATWB

A mature Mangrove forest.

My good news this month is that science and technology have found a powerful new way to help remedy the world’s dire climate change situation.

A huge contributing factor to global warming is deforestation. According to National Geographic, between 1990 and 2016 the world lost 502,000 square miles of forest due mainly to a combination of humans and companies cutting them down.1

Deforestation is what causes the destruction of forests all over the world and results in negative effects on their ecosystems, including decreased biodiversity, increased erosion of soil, and the release of greenhouse gas emissions (CO2).2

Worldview International Foundation, a nonprofit in Myanmar (Burma), began working with villagers to plant trees by hand in that badly eroded country in 2012. More than six million Mangrove trees have been planted there so far since then.1

Adele Peters, a journalist, states:

“Roughly half of the world’s mangrove forests have been lost. The trees, with twisted roots that reach underwater along coastlines, can store more carbon than trees on land. Mangrove deforestation is responsible for 24 million tons of CO2 emissions each year…”3

But planting trees by hand can’t easily cover a vast expanse of land, and it takes too much time to be able to fix the dire deforestation situation in the world.

That changed when an ex-NASA engineer designed a tree-planting drone. The pressing need to reseed a huge area in Myanmar that could hold a billion new trees was suddenly within reach. Amazingly, two operators working with 10 drones can theoretically plant 400,000 trees in a day. Technology can now help restore forests at the pace needed to fight climate change.1

How does technology do it? By programming tree-planting drones to fire millions of small sacs containing germinated tree seed pellets into the ground. All those new trees hugely benefit the environment, counteracting the present excess of carbon dioxide emissions, soil erosion, etc.  The aim (excuse the pun) is to restore such areas as depleted coastal mangrove forests quickly enough to fight the catastrophic climate change that people’s fascination with science and technology helped create.

What will happen with people’s involvement when those speedy drones start replanting entire forests? Worldview International Foundation (WIF), the nonprofit corporation in Myanmar working with the folks who created the drones, is committed to supporting local people so they’ll continue to play critical roles in their communities as they develop.3 The intent of WIF’s tree seed planting project in Myanmar’s is to teach the local residents to care for trees and provide them with well-paying jobs so that restoring the environment will be profitable for them.3

Tree-planting drones could help support tree planting on a massive scale, which would have a significant impact on climate change. By massive I’m talking about researchers’ findings that there’s enough room to plant another 1.2 trillion trees. That many trees could absorb more CO2 each year than human beings.3 Forests are also a renewable, self-sustaining energy source that cleans our air and water.

All of which sounds pretty darned wonderful to me. How about you?

You can read the entire article here. And here’s another article that talks about the subject as well.

Works Cited

  1. internationalforestindustries.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May. 2019.
    <https://internationalforestindustries.com/2019/04/26/tree-planting-drones-firing-seed-missiles/>.
  2. iflscience.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May. 2019.
    <https://www.iflscience.com/environment/drones-take-reforestation-new-heights/>.
  3. fastcompany.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May. 2019.
    <https://www.fastcompany.com/90329982/these-tree-planting-drones-are-firing-seed-missiles-to-restore-the-worlds-forests>.


 

We Are The World Blogfest - In Darkness, Be Light

 

Welcome to the 24th We Are The World Blogfest (#WATWB). At the end of each month, we bloggers are given an opportunity to post good news, offering an antidote to bad news in our feeds. The talented co-hosts for this month are:
Dan Antion, Shilpa Garg, Simon Falk, Damyanti Biswas, and Mary Giese. Please check out their blogs and say hello.


 

 

Lizbeth Hartz is the author of the true crime, true love memoir Angel Hero, Murder in Hawaii, A True Story. Buy it on Amazon or sign up to read the 1st chapter free.

7 Comments

  1. Lynn Hallbrooks on May 31, 2019 at 10:03 pm

    Very intriguing. I hope this works out well for all. Thanks for sharing this and for being a part of #WATWB.



    • Lizbeth Hartz on May 31, 2019 at 10:08 pm

      I hope so too! Thanks for responding to my post. WATWB rocks!



  2. Hilary on June 1, 2019 at 12:13 pm

    Hi Lizbeth – I can see the value in using drones like this … what an amazing idea. Mangroves are wonderful coastal biomes … sheltering all sorts of sea creatures … protecting the young, as well as providing stability to the coast line. This is such a clever innovative approach to loss of forest areas … thanks for letting us know – cheers Hilary
    http://positiveletters.blogspot.com/2019/05/we-are-world-blogfest-25-lemon-tree.html



    • Lizbeth Hartz on June 3, 2019 at 10:04 am

      Hi Hillary, Thanks for reading and commenting. Yes, such a clever idea with huge potential for healing the planet and slowing down global warning! You’re welcome and loved your plant-based blog post this time, too:)



  3. Shilpa Garg on June 1, 2019 at 5:27 pm

    10 drones can theoretically plant 400,000 trees in a day!! This is super amazing!! Such a novel initiative. Like Myanmar, hope more countries adopt this technology to plant trees.Thanks for sharing this positive and powerful story, Lizabeth!



    • Lizbeth Hartz on June 3, 2019 at 10:24 am

      Hi Shilpa, yes, amazing indeed. I’m with you, hoping more countries adopt this tree-planting drone technology. Hard to imagine that one drone can plant 40,000 trees in a day! You’re welcome, and loved your post about the organic farmer children too!



  4. susan scott on June 3, 2019 at 8:22 am

    AMAZING & WONDERFUL that technology can do so much and offset the effects of deforestation. Thanks Lizbeth, this is pretty inspiring. I read somewhere about students can graduate from college only if they plant 10 trees …