> We know that the existence of the forest is extremely valuable in its natural state — for carbon capture, biodiversity, etc, but we expect to reap its rewards without paying for it. The forest is just as much a natural resource as the oil underneath Saudi Arabia, for example.

From this HN thread of two months ago:

Egypt has managed to plant trees in the desert usi...

check out the influential book - The Forest and The Sea by Marston Bates - that I mentioned:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24820550