According to French and Ivorian researchers, a tropical forest cut for cultivation can regenerate in twenty years. This discovery was published on December 10 in the journal “Science”.
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This is encouraging news for conservationists: according to French and Ivorian researchers, the tropical forest is regenerating faster than expected. They wondered how long it took to recreate areas of tropical forests, previously cut down for the cultivation of soybeans, cocoa or oil palms. In order to obtain an answer, an international team of researchers, involving the Center for International Cooperation in Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD), analyzed 2,200 forest plots in Africa and South America. According to their findings, published Friday, December 10 in the scientific journal Science, in twenty years we can see the forest regain its rights.
For this, we must let nature do its thing, without making any plantations. These former areas of cultivation and rearing can then give way to a new tropical forest, made up of trees as tall as a five-story building. In twenty years, 80% of the soil’s fertility is also restored as well as 80% of the plant diversity of a primary forest.
How can a tropical forest grow back so quickly, without help? The complexity of these woods is restored naturally thanks to the seeds that have remained buried in the soil, explains Bruno Hérault, specialist in tropical forest landscapes at CIRAD. It is also restored thanks to the seeds of the surrounding vegetation which can be carried by the wind or by animals. This means that voluntary forest plantations, often expensive, are not necessarily useful, except sometimes to save time sometimes.
This good news should not, however, minimize the impact of deforestation, because if it takes only twenty years to regain 80% of the appearance of a tropical forest, it takes at least a hundred years for the trees to grow bigger. and regain their initial carbon storage capacity.