What is the difference between avoided deforestation, woodland rehabilitation, assisted natural regeneration and tree-planting?
Avoided deforestation is the protection of forest which is under the imminent threat of clearance. Through this protection the carbon dioxide emissions which would have been released to the atmosphere through combustion and decomposition are prevented. Woodland rehabilitation involves removing the factors – e.g. grazing cattle, fire, logging or woodcutting – that are degrading forest cover. Assisted natural regeneration takes place where the land has already been completely cleared, consisting of removing the constraints preventing re-establishment of natural vegetation. All this involves boosting self-sown trees – we now prefer to plant native trees only where assisted natural regeneration would not be successful or would benefit from enrichment – e.g. on eroded soils or where natural seed sources are distant.
