CANADIAN startup Flash Forest is going to use drones to plant trees, with the goal of planting 1 billion trees by 2028.

The company combines the use of drones with specially designed pods and an accelerated seed germination process. It merges technology, software and ecological science to surpass traditional tree-planting efforts, rapidly accelerates global reforestation efforts and reduces tree-planting cost.

The company, like a handful of other startups that are also using tree-planting drones, believes that technology can help the world reach ambitious goals to restore forests to stem biodiversity loss and fight climate change.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that it’s necessary to plant 1 billion hectares of trees — a forest roughly the size of the entire United States — to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Existing forests need to be protected while new trees are planted; right now, that isn’t working well. “There are a lot of different attempts to tackle reforestation,” says Flash Forest co-founder and chief strategy officer Angelique Ahlstrom. “But despite all of them, they’re still failing, with a net loss of 7 billion trees every year.”

Flash Forest’s technology can currently plant 10,000 to 20,000 seed pods a day; as the technology advances, a pair of pilots will be able to plant 100,000 trees in a day. By hand, someone might typically be able to plant around 1,500 trees in a day, Ahlstrom says. The company aims to bring the cost down to US$0.5 per tree, or around a fourth of the cost of some other tree restoration efforts.

The seeds are already sprouted before they’re inserted into the ground, promising a more successful growth pattern and robust rooting system. Following the planting, the team will follow the process with a spraying drone to provide nitrogen and other nutrients to the seedlings. Furthermore, an additional mapping drone is used to keep an eye on the process of the plants’ growth. The team hopes to plant eight species to generate healthy ecosystems, while also planting enough trees to offset North American carbon emissions.

The Flash Forest pods use less water than traditional planting methods and can be created in mass quantities within just 30 days. (SD-Agencies)