A Different Way to Combat Climate Change

Climate change has led to many problems for the major South African city of Cape Town, as they have suffered multiple droughts in recent years that have threatened the water supply of the city. In fact, they almost faced a “Day Zero”, which is when a city has no tap water available for its residents, in 2018. In response to these issues, conservationists have made a very interesting decision: frantically chop down trees. They have also considered burning additional trees down.

Well, someone might think, why might this idea be so interesting? 

It is controversial and may lead to additional climate change.

Both trees and water are renewable resources, but if trees are burned or cut down at a rate that cannot be reversed due to not many trees being planted, then it becomes a resource that can have shortages, which affects the wildlife and vegetation of the area. If wildlife have no place to live and there is a lack of vegetation, both animals and humans can starve and die due to a lack of food.

However, South African scientists have found that various invasive tree species have taken in so much groundwater that eliminating trees is a better option than keeping them. Specifically, black wattle, pine and gum trees have taken most of the groundwater and have displaced native vegetation and chocked off water that would have gone into the city’s reservoirs.

Hydrologists working for the Greater Cape Town Water Fund have projected that getting rid of the trees can lead to two additional months of water for Cape Town at a cheaper cost than a process like desalination, the removal of salts and minerals from some substance. 

Over the last three years, crews of people with chain saws and handsaws have cleared 120 square miles, and the results of the effort have recently come out. 

The Nature Conservancy released the Water Fund’s first report in February 2024, which is based on preliminary data that spans 4.5 years. They showed that the areas where the invasive species were removed from native fynbos average 34% higher flow per year than a nearby area invaded by pine trees.

Richard Bugan, the conservancy’s South Africa science manager, hikes with a group of experts every few months to download information from sensors recording stream flow and rainfall. They monitor insects, fish, and amphibians, but much of Bugan’s equipment has been lost to wildfires and floods.

Agricultural expert Aida Bargués Tobella says that countries including the United States, Canada and Australia have used similar methods to manage their water, and that while trees usually improve soil quality, Cape Town’s land was treated with respect and the invasive trees were water-hungry, unlike those other places. 

However, according to Stanford University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (the latter’s logo is below), Cape Town’s drought is five to six times as likely as before 2018 and future droughts are likely to be more severe.

While fires are not always bad in Cape Town compared to other cities, as they are needed for many species to reproduce, pine can burn very quickly, leading to the destruction of seeds at a rate which native species cannot recover from.

The Water Fund wants to set trees on fire starting in July because they feel that mice and ants will be able to carry seeds back in. Kirsten Watson, manager of the Water Fund, has said that the trees do not provide long-term carbon storage because they will burn anyways. She feels that the Fund would rather burn the trees safely than in a way that will lead to wildfires.

More than two-thirds of South Africa’s 20,400 plant species are not found anywhere else, and the invasive species have already made seven of the species extinct, while 14% of them are in immediate danger of extinction, according to Karen Esler, a professor of conservation at Stellenbosch University. That is why she feels that if the trees were not cut and burned, then local ecosystems would be damaged even more due to climate change.

A group of tree-cutters, led by some firefighters, a civil engineering trainee, and former civil servants, are working to save the fynbo tree species specifically. While they know that it is tough to be away from family for many weeks at a time, they have become friends in their time together. 

While South Africa has cleared invasive species for decades, this era of removing them is the first time the government has provided reasonable wages, which used to not be the case. Also, the public budget has increased in recent years. Previously, there have been public budget cuts, which meant that workers were forced to clear up to where they could hike, meaning that many invasive species were undisturbed at higher elevations.

It is not known yet if the U.S., Canada, and Australia will allow a similar group to tackle the same issue, but this may be the first step in the recovery of marine species in South Africa, which have been threatened for years by human activity. This could also be a great alternative to deforestation, which has been widely criticized for prioritizing humans over animals and other species. In fact, deforestation is the cause of about 10% of global warming, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

This could be the start of something very big! Stay tuned to find out if other cities (including those who have also faced a “Day Zero” before) will follow in Cape Town’s footsteps.

Works Cited:

Houreld, Katherine. “Cape Town, Low on Water, Is Chopping Trees to Cope with Climate Change” The Washington Post, 27 Feb. 2024, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/27/south-africa-water-climate-trees/. Accessed 28 Feb. 2024.

“Learn the Effects of Deforestation.” WWF, World Wildlife Fund, 2024, www.wwf.org.uk/learn/effects-of/deforestation#:~:text=If%20forests%20are%20cleared%2C%20or,we%20don%27t%20stop%20deforestation. Accessed 29 Feb. 2024. 

NOAA Logo: Rivera, Kingston. “New NOAA Office on CSUMB Campus Intended to Encourage Collaboration between Students and Researchers.” KSBW, KSBW, 6 June 2023, www.ksbw.com/article/new-noaa-office-on-csumb-campus-intended-to-encourage-collaboration-between-students-and-researchers/44110684. Accessed 29 Feb. 2024.

Normal Tree Picture: Zielinski, Sarah. “Let’s Learn about Trees.” Science News Explores, 22 Apr. 2020, www.snexplores.org/article/lets-learn-about-trees. Accessed 29 Feb. 2024.