Looking Back

While the conference has ended, you can watch the entirety below:

About the Conference

Tree planting dominates political and popular agendas, often portrayed as an easy answer to the climate crisis and effective mitigation for corporate carbon emissions.

But it is not a simple solution and planting the wrong trees in the wrong place can cause considerably more damage than benefits, failing to benefit either people or nature.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Botanic Gardens Conservation International will jointly convene three days of online discussion and debate on best practice and policy, underpinned by scientific evidence, to go beyond the headlines and find ways of raising the standard of global reforestation.

The conference will create a global hub of expertise and innovative thinking to ensure that reforestation delivers benefits, not just for carbon capture but also for biodiversity and human wellbeing.

We will focus on finding workable, evidence-based solutions for reforestation to benefit biodiversity, carbon capture and livelihoods – questioning assumptions, showcasing success stories, identifying challenges and encouraging new, integrative approaches.

Who is this conference for?

The conference is aimed at policymakers, funders, practitioners, researchers, and anyone interested in reforestation. The language used will be suitable for a broad audience, with no requirements for previous knowledge or expertise.

Topics

• Successes and challenges from projects across the globe
• Planting native vs exotic species
• The funders’ perspective
• Policy
• Forest regeneration – natural and planted
• Monitoring and new technologies
• Native seed supply chain and seed use

Speakers and panellists

The conference will be opened by Kew and BGCI’s Patron, HRH The Prince of Wales. Other confirmed speakers include:

• Dr Baomiavotse Vahinala Raharinirina – Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Madagascar
• Carlos Manuel Rodriguez – CEO of the Global Environment Facility and former Minister of the Environment and Energy, Costa Rica
• Dr Susan Chomba – Regreening Africa, World Agroforestry (ICRAF), Kenya
• Professor Guaraci M. Diniz Jr. – Director of Jardim Botânico Araribá, Brazil
• Dr Dia P. Shannon – Forest Restoration Research Unit, Chiang Mai University, Thailand

Informing policy and practice

Discussions during the conference will lead to the development of a ‘conference declaration’ which will aim to inform policies for protecting and restoring the world’s forests. Delegates will have the opportunity to contribute to the declaration and sign up to support it afterwards.

It is hoped that the discussions will also influence and support initiatives arising from COP15 in China and COP26 in Glasgow later this year.

Ahead of with the conference, Kew, BGCI and international partners will be publishing ten ‘golden rules’ for reforestation, highlighting how projects can maximise carbon sequestration, biodiversity recovery and livelihood benefits. Details of the paper will be available here soon.

Headline sponsor

Supporting sponsor

Collaborating partner