Photo by Guy Bowden 

5 Ways in which tree monocultures harm the climate

By Daniel Santander Urrutia[1]

A cloud was ascending, the appearance of which I cannot give you a more exact description of than by likening it to that of a pine tree, for it shot up to a great height in the form of a very tall trunk, which spread itself out at the top into a sort of branches… then again we were immersed in thick darkness, and a heavy shower of ashes rained upon us, which we were obliged every now and then to stand up to shake off, otherwise we should have been crushed and buried in the heap (Pliny the Younger, 79 AD).

Today, as the global economy adapts to climate agreements, nations continue the search for infinite economic growth, while simultaneously attempting (or saying to attempt) to mitigate climate change. In this context, monoculture tree plantations have become a central factor, due to the wrong consensus that single-species plantations act as efficient carbon sinks (Mongabay, 2008; NuSci Magazine, 2023).

Monoculture tree plantations are increasingly promoted as 'nature-based solutions' to the climate crisis (Seddon et al., 2020). Corporations and governments endorse them as carbon sinks, tying their implementation to market mechanisms, like Carbon Credits (DynamicCarbonCredits, 2025) and Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage BECCS technologies (Boell Foundation, 2023).

The 2 Previous articles in this series—(1) Social Sustainability Amid Violence: The Chilean Example of Tree Monoculture (Santander D., 2025), and (2) A Green Desert of Trees: Environmental Consequences of Monoculture Plantations (Santander D., 2025)— have explored the high environmental and social impacts from these plantations. Yet, more crucial concerns remain.