Should tree plantations count toward reforestation goals? It’s complicated

Government agencies touted the Prey Lang reforestation project in central Cambodia as the country’s first big venture into climate-focused restoration. Cambodia’s Forestry Administration granted South Korean contractor Think Biotech a 34,000-hectare (84,000-acre) reforestation concession for the ostensible purpose of planting trees and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. But what’s happened on the ground doesn’t look much like a win against climate change.