A “generation where every college student will have their own tree”: this is the wish expressed by Emmanuel Macron, Monday, September 4, during his interview with YouTuber HugoDécrypte. In October 2022, after a summer marked by devastating fires, the Head of State set a goal of planting 1 billion trees in ten years. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, 75 million trees are already planted each year, or 750 million over a decade.
Many specialists criticize this objective and the priority placed on planting. “Planting trees should be a complement, not the norm. This is a false solution, it is better to maintain the current forests,” said Patrice Martin, national secretary of the Snupfen union within the National Forestry Office (ONF). “Our forests are weakened due to several difficult years marked by heat waves and drought. Some regions are more affected, such as the East which is in a worrying health state. This is also why we must protect existing ones. »
An opinion that Catherine Collet, researcher on forest renewal issues at INRAE (National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment) in Nancy, does not completely share. “Planting is sometimes the only solution. Natural regeneration does not always renew the forest. Planting is one of the important tools for the forest. »
The announcement, if it is actually implemented, will not represent a majority of tree plantations in France. "It's a communication operation to illustrate the general interest of planting trees," said Antoine Kremer, researcher in the evolutionary biology of trees at Inrae. The latter also reminds us that the carbon footprint of a tree is negative at the time of its planting. “A planting operation requires means that generate carbon,” points out the researcher.
The question of the species chosen is also crucial in the effectiveness of the measure. “It is difficult to know which species will be most adapted to climate change. It is also difficult to know what the new insects and parasites will be. One of the answers is to diversify the species. In a large majority of cases, a parasite corresponds to a species,” concludes Catherine Collet.
