Plant-based conservation strategies focus on utilizing and enhancing the natural resilience of plant life to restore and protect ecosystems. Reforestation and afforestation efforts, for example, involve planting trees in areas where forests have been degraded or cleared. These efforts not only help to sequester carbon dioxide but also restore habitats for a wide range of species. Additionally, the use of indigenous plant species in restoration projects can enhance biodiversity and ensure the long-term sustainability of restored ecosystems.
Historically, forests have been mythologized as places of danger and mystery, but also as sites of resistance. In Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass (2013), the forest is a teacher that re‑asserts the limits of human control. By “taking” something that belongs to a human, the woods invert the colonial trope of “taming” wilderness. This reversal is crucial: it is not the human who conquers the forest, but the forest that re‑claims what the human thought it owned. the woods have taken her plantsvscunts top