Humanity is today faced with a double major crisis: climate change and widespread pollution by chemicals, pesticides, and plastics. These crises represent a direct threat not only to ecosystems, but also to the health and resilience of human societies, especially in the most vulnerable areas. The next generations, faced with extreme climatic events, loss of biodiversity, and continued degradation of agricultural land, will have to meet the challenge of survival in a largely changed world.
Rather than simply mitigating carbon emissions, there is an urgent need to focus on the regeneration of natural and agricultural spaces. This regeneration is based on practices such as chemical-free agricultural transition, agroforestry, and massive reforestation, which are solutions capable of restoring biodiversity, revitalizing soils, and strengthening human resilience in the face of future crises. This article demonstrates why these actions must be financed immediately, and offers orders of magnitude on the effort to be made in terms of areas to be regenerated and the financing required.
I. Ecosystem regeneration: a necessity for the next three generations
- The combined effects of climate change and pollution on human and ecological health
Climate disruption, combined with the spread of chemicals in ecosystems, exerts unsustainable pressure on human health and ecosystems:
- Human health: Pesticides and plastics, omnipresent in food chains, increase the risks of chronic diseases, including cancers, endocrine disruption and respiratory diseases. According to the WHO, exposure to pesticides causes more than 200,000 deaths each year. Added to this are the direct impacts of global warming, such as malnutrition caused by the loss of crops, the increase in vector-borne diseases (such as malaria), and the effects of heat waves.
- Biodiversity: Chemical pollution and climate change are leading to the collapse of pollinating insect populations, the destruction of natural habitats and the reduction of animal and plant species. In 2020, WWF estimated that 68% of wildlife populations had disappeared in just 50 years.
- Regenerating ecosystems to increase resilience
Ecosystem regeneration relies on agricultural and forestry practices that restore soils, increase biodiversity, and improve the resilience of communities in the face of climate disasters.
- Agroforestry: Agroforestry, which involves combining trees with crops and livestock, is a key solution for restoring degraded ecosystems. Trees help sequester carbon, protect soil against erosion, and regenerate groundwater. In addition, the shade they provide reduces the temperature of agricultural land, making it more resilient to heat waves.
- Chemical-free agricultural transition: Regenerative agriculture, without the use of chemicals, improves soil health and promotes biodiversity. Practices such as crop rotation, soil cover, and composting help increase yields without relying on chemical fertilizers. These methods not only restore agricultural productivity, but also reduce the contamination of ecosystems.
- Mass reforestation: Reforestation, whether natural or assisted, is essential to restore degraded areas and stabilize the local climate. Each hectare of replanted forest can sequester up to 1.5 tonnes of CO₂ per year, while providing ecological benefits such as the protection of biodiversity and the regulation of hydrological cycles.
II. Orders of magnitude: surfaces to be regenerated and necessary financing
- Surface to be regenerated: a global approach
- Agroforestry: The UN estimates that around 2 billion hectares of land worldwide are degraded. Agroforestry could be deployed on at least 500 million hectares by 2050 to have a significant impact. According to recent studies, large-scale adoption of agroforestry could sequester up to 9 billion tonnes of CO₂ per year.
- Reforestation: According to a report by the NGO Global Forest Watch, around 900 million hectares of deforested land around the world are suitable for reforestation. The goal of restoring 350 million hectares of land by 2030, set by the Bonn Challenge initiative, could sequester between 26 and 63 gigatons of CO₂ by 2050.
- Agricultural transition: The transition to organic and regenerative agriculture is expected to affect approximately 1.5 billion hectares of agricultural land worldwide. Such a transition would improve the resilience of soils and avoid the emission of millions of tonnes of chemical pollutants each year.
- Necessary financing
- Agroforestry: The average cost of agroforestry is estimated to be between USD 500 and USD 1,000 per hectare. To regenerate 500 million hectares, this would represent a total investment of $250 to $500 billion over the next 10 to 30 years.
- Reforestation: The cost of reforestation ranges from $500 to $3,000 per hectare, depending on the region and techniques used. Restoring 350 million hectares by 2030 would therefore require between 175 and 1,050 billion dollars. For comparison, the United Nations Green Climate Fund aims to mobilize $100 billion per year to finance such projects.
- Agricultural transition: Investments in organic farming vary by region, but an order of magnitude of around USD 1,500 to USD 2,000 per hectare is often cited. For a transition of 1.5 billion hectares of agricultural land, the necessary financing could reach $3 trillion over the next 20 to 30 years.
III. Long-term benefits: health, resilience and adaptation
- Improved human health
The transition to chemical-free agriculture would significantly reduce diseases linked to pesticide exposure. In addition, ecosystem restoration would reduce the risks of new pandemics emerging by restoring natural habitats that prevent contact between humans and animals carrying zoonotic diseases.
- Resilience in the face of climate disasters
Healthy soils and diverse ecosystems better protect communities from floods, droughts and heat waves. Studies show that agroforestry farms are more resilient to extreme weather events, ensuring more stable agricultural yields and increased food security.
- Restoration of ecosystem services
In addition to carbon sequestration, restored ecosystems provide essential services such as local climate regulation, air and water purification, and soil fertility. These benefits are fundamental to supporting future generations.
Conclusion
The regeneration of agricultural and forestry ecosystems, via agroforestry, chemical-free agricultural transition and reforestation, is the major effort to finance to improve human resilience in the face of climate and health crises for the next three generations. The proposed orders of magnitude show that although the investments are high, the benefits for human health, biodiversity, and climate stability are worth it. It is imperative to act now to avoid even more serious crises in the decades to come.
