We estimate agricultural abandoned land areas from the HIstoric Land Dynamics Assessment+ (HILDA+) database using two time thresholds (abandonment since 2009 or 2014) to identify potential areas for tree planting. Abandoned agricultural land is often proposed as providing capacity for afforestation. The historic forest expansion in the EU since 2010 was 2.44 Mha, meaning that despite 3 billion trees sounding like a large number this target is considerably lower than historic afforestation rates within the EU, i.e. We find that 3 billion trees would require a total land area of between 0.81 and 1.37 Mha (avg. Here, we compute the land area that would be required to support this number of newly planted trees by taking account of different tree species and planting regimes across the EU member states. The EU Biodiversity strategy aims to plant 3 billion trees by 2030, in order to improve ecosystem restoration and biodiversity.
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