More green spaces, in general, make for better climate outcomes. More trees and plants to clean out the air and bonus, large green spaces create other favorable outcomes for humanities. But it’s important to keep something in mind about this. Not all green spaces are the same and for the biggest impact, we need native trees, not just. . . plants. Especially not just one type of plant.

Natural forests offset changes we do to the earth in regards to CO2 emissions from cars and factories for example. Just replacing them with “green space” is not quite the same the report warns. For example, planting a crop of edible foods, though it may be green, will not create the intended carbon capture results.

Instead, scientists would like the focus to be on forests and such which will give the best results and ask that monoculture plantations be listed as excluded. More green spaces aren’t just good for the environment though, as we have mentioned before, they also help with poverty and health outcomes as well.