Can commercial tree planting ensure ecological recovery?

The problem of deforestation had generated many projects to help this situation. The most controversial project is afforestation. This has been backed by the World Bank Watershed which has funded this cause with over US $190 million.

The locals are seriously against the afforestation projects for fear of depletion of their groundwater and fodder resources. In India they are planting pine; in Ethiopia they are planting eucalyptus. Specifying what gets planted where is destroying the diversity of the rainforest. The World Bank does not usually work with agroforestry or afforestation. The locals are afraid that they will profit from the planting of specific types of trees and the trees will be of no use to the agriculture. The tree-planting that the World Bank is doing is not rebuilding, but it may end up changing the environment that the people are used to.