Our Planet​—Designed to Survive

Some deforested lands have displayed an amazing ability to recover and even expand. Ecologists have recently observed, to their surprise, how quickly deforested lands have been able to regrow naturally and become healthy forests again. Consider these examples:

• Forested lands that were cleared for farming and later abandoned were monitored by researchers. A study of 2,200 such plots in the Americas and West Africa revealed that soil can return to its original forest-friendly health within ten years.

• Researchers estimate that within about 100 years, the lands could naturally achieve a healthy diversity of trees and other forest life-forms, according to a study published in Science magazine.

• Scientists in Brazil recently compared the rate of reforestation in areas with virtually no human intervention to that of areas where robust man-made strategies were implemented.

• Referring to the researchers in this study, National Geographic reports: “To their delight, they found tree-planting was unnecessary.” In just five years, the tested plots, without any tree-planting, “were full of native trees.”