Tree Cycle

Trees are one of the greatest gifts of Nature.

They provide a habitat for wildlife, create shade and help circulate cool air, and counteract the greenhouse effect.

Trees absorb CO₂ from the atmosphere, water and nutrients from the land, and combine these with solar energy to create the building blocks of organic matter. The carbon is stored in the wood.

The life of a tree is a cycle, and when it dies the wood decomposes and much of its carbon is released back into the atmosphere. Even part of the solar energy that was absorbed during photosynthesis will be released by burning.

For this reason, we need to manage the life cycle of trees and use them as permanent storage for CO₂ and solar energy. We illustrate this with our animation of the tree cycle.

Trees grow fastest in the tropics, and at any other latitude the growth is slower and therefore less efficient at capturing carbon.

A tropical tree will grow during the first 40 to 50 years of its life, and during this time it will capture approximately one tonne of CO₂.

Beyond that time, the capture of CO₂ is a law of diminishing returns and the best course of action is to remove it and plant a new one.

The new tree will begin a new cycle, and act as an efficient storage of carbon and solar energy. Its predecessor’s carbon is locked away in the wood and it will be used to make timber products such as furniture and paper.

A managed tree cycle is an efficient sink of CO₂ that can function indefinitely, at the same time producing enough to support the local communities who manage them.