Trees, the tree, and the Tree

Stuart Blanch

July, 2025

Trees, the tree, and the Tree

The beauty and theology of trees.

This reflection celebrates the beauty, ecological importance and spiritual meaning of trees. From the vast scale of global forests that sustain life on Earth to the urgent threats they face from deforestation and climate change, it explores both awe and concern for their future. Drawing on Scripture, it traces how trees run through the biblical story – from creation and prophecy to the cross and the Tree of Life – offering a vision of hope, renewal and God’s love for the whole of creation.

I love trees.

Standing under a tree, I am in awe, still, observing: trunk towering, branches arching, leaves filtering, birds calling, cicadas buzzing.

Reaching upwards towards the Sun, a tree pumps water through its roots way up to leaves in the canopy, making oxygen, producing rain, absorbing carbon dioxide, cooling the air.

Trees are homes, food, shelter for animals, fungi, bacteria, plants. They make wood wonderful to touch, give us fruit delightful to eat, shade us.

Fun fact: there are three trillion trees on Earth.

That’s about 375 trees for each person.

Forests of trees cover four billion hectares, or 31% of land. These store 861 billion tonnes of carbon.

There are 60,000 known species of trees. Forests are home to 80% of all species of animals, plants and insects.

Two billion people rely directly on forests for livelihoods, shelter, fuel, food.

I fear for trees.

Sad fact: there used to be six trillion trees.

One third of forests are gone.

For some countries most of their tree loss happened hundreds of years ago, such as France, China, Russia, the UK, Iceland, the United States.

Today, ten million hectares of forest are lost each year, killing 10 to 15 billion trees, from Brazil to India, Indonesia to the DRC.

Thirty eight percent of tree species are at risk of extinction.

Thankfully, governments committed at Climate COP28 in 2023, in Dubai, to “enhanced efforts towards halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030”.

But we are not on track to achieve this.

Global heating and fires are killing trees; the Amazon rainforest is starting to become dry savanna.

Forest fires burn 6 million more hectares of forest than they did 20 years ago, with big fires in recent years burning forests from California to Algeria to Australia to Portugal.

How will trees survive if Earth warms by 2, 2.5 or 3o Celsius?

“That’s about 375 trees for each person.”

I hope for trees.

Encouraging fact: trees grow.

Reforestation is gathering pace, as forests of trees are restored. Governments, corporations, Indigenous landholders and farmers are regenerating forests.

A Rocha is working with local communities and governments and churches to save and grow trees. From Ghana to Peru, Uganda to Australia, Kenya to Canada, we are protecting forests and planting trees.

God loves trees.

The arc of God’s dealings with people is marked by trees.

In some passages in the Bible, references to trees in everyday events provide geographical and historical context. In others, trees have rich theological meaning, in prophecy, poetry, songs.

God created trees, giving them to people to use (Genesis 1:29) and care for (2: 15). People turned from God by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, ignoring His command (2: 17). Under an oak tree, the Lord appeared to child-less Abram, saying his offspring would inherit the land (12: 6).

Wood from the long-lived desert tree acacia built the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 37: 1) that held then Ten Commandments God gave Moses, and the Altar for sacrifices (38: 1).

The person who delights in the law of the Lord is compared to a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither (Psalm 1: 2-3).

Wise King Solomon spoke about the cedars of Lebanon (1 Kings 4: 33), and built God’s Temple from massive strong cedar trunks (1 Kings 5: 6).

Isaiah preceded his prophecy regarding the suffering Servant of the Lord, which was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, by referring to placing various tree species in the barren wastelands (Isaiah 41: 19).

Micah prophesied the restoration of Zion where every man will sit under his own sycamore fig tree (Micah 4: 4), which signify abundance and flourishing.

“Trees give us life; air, rain, food, timber, wildlife, beauty, health. Every day.”

I need ‘the tree’

A week before Jesus died, the rich and despised tax collector Zacchaeus, climbed a sycamore fig tree to look over the crowd to see Jesus (Luke 19: 4), and found salvation.

A few days later, Jesus knelt in prayer in an olive grove outside Jerusalem (John 18: 1).

The next day, he was crucified on a wooden cross (Matthew 27: 32) willingly bearing “our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2: 24).

The Apostle Paul wrote that Jesus is reconciling to himself all things on earth and in heaven – trees included – through his blood shed on the cross (Colossians 1: 20).

I long to see the Tree.

And on the last page of the Bible, the apostle John writes that the Tree of Life will be watered by the river of the water of life in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 22: 2).

Trees give us life; air, rain, food, timber, wildlife, beauty, health. Every day.

And trees bookend the Bible, and appear throughout God’s dealing with people. In the Gardens of Eden and Gethsemane, in psalms of praise and prophecies of redemption, on the Cross, and in the renewed Earth, there are trees.

I love trees.

Stuart Blanch

Australian ecologist and conservation leader Stuart has worked across river, wetland and forest restoration in Australia and France. He now works with WWF on forest conservation policy and is a founding director of A Rocha Australia.

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Who shapes an ecosystem?

42 years ago, when A Rocha was founded, scientists viewed geology as the bedrock, so to speak, of an ecosystem, which would determine the soil type and therefore the plants, insects and other species that could live there. Now, our understanding is flipped: it’s a few keystone species which are vital to the survival of other species in the ecosystem. When you remove a keystone species, the entire arch of life beneath it collapses.

Apex predators often play this role by determining how nutrients are cycled through the rest of the food chain. The Blacktip Reef Shark Archarhinus melanopterus studied by A Rocha Kenya feeds on a variety of smaller fish populations, which protects Watamu’s reef ecosystems from overgrazing. A Rocha USA has observed a similar impact of the American Alligator Alligator mississippiensis in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. Aside from being a top predator, they create holes and trails which retain water during the dry season, providing habitat for fish and food for wading birds. Several other reptiles even use abandoned alligator nests as their own.

Not all keystone species are predators, or even animals! A Rocha Ghana is restoring Keta Lagoon Complex Ramsar Site by planting mangroves. These powerful trees support hundreds of species by providing habitat for fish and crustaceans, nesting spots for bats and birds, and food for mammals. They benefit humans as well, by providing coastal communities with food, livelihoods and protection from extreme weather events.

In India’s Bannerghatta-Hosur Landscape Asian Elephants are known as ‘ecosystem engineers’ who modify the landscape over a vast range, benefiting and impacting an array of species. While roaming the forest, they trample trees which creates open woodlands where grasses can grow. This provides essential food for a variety of grazing herbivores, as well as habitat in the damaged trees for lizards and other creatures. They also disperse seeds and cycle nutrients in their dung. Even their pad marks (footprints) can function as microhabitats, as the depressions they create accumulate water and subsequently support transient populations of insects.

On the other hand, some very small species have a massive impact, like the Pacific Salmon cared for by A Rocha Canada. In their epic journey from freshwater to the ocean and back, these salmon feed life wherever they go. They provide essential nutrients to bears, wolves, eagles, killer whales, insects and even the soil itself. Scientists have discovered that the trees within 30 meters from a salmon bearing stream have larger growth rings in good salmon years and are healthier than trees further into the forest!

There’s much we can learn from these creatures which benefit their neighbours. In Genesis 1:26-28, God made humankind in his image and likeness and made us responsible for all the other creatures, making us the ultimate keystone species. Sadly, many of the environmental problems we face are due to humans’ misuse of our ‘dominion’ over other creatures. In its biblical context, ‘dominion’ does not mean domination but servant leadership. Keystone species teach us that restoring right relationships between humans, God and the rest of creation is what’s needed to begin healing the environment.

One Ocean, One Future

The ocean covers 71% of our planet and contains 97% of Earth’s water – one vast, connected body of salt water. The recent UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France emphasized that connection in its very name – ‘Ocean’ Conference, singular – and welcomed visitors with a map that made that connection clear.

Certainly, not all of the ocean is the same. Made up of multiple marine ecosystems – from estuaries to the deep sea – it is shaped by varying winds, tides and water densities. But with a global circulation system moving energy, matter and organisms, what happens in one part of the ocean can affect other parts, making local decisions and actions matter.

Alongside the official sessions, the public explored ‘La Baleine’ (The Whale), a transformed space filled with photography, virtual reality dives, exhibits and talks from ocean advocates. I was amazed by the beauty, colour, and texture. Photographer Laurent Ballesta’s striking images captured the wonder of these other worlds: the effervescence of an octopus, the delicate fronds of seagrass, the startling translucence of a jellyfish. Virtual reality also offered up-close encounters, likely the closest I’ll get to exploring the deep sea in a submersible.

The awe and wonder I felt as I explored was mirrored on the faces of so many around me. ‘Biodiversity and beauty’ is one of the four focus areas of A Rocha’s marine conservation programme. The beauty of a creature mirrors God’s beauty, one way into appreciation of who God is. My amazement sparked these questions: How can we help these creatures flourish? My neighbour flourish, on the other side of this circulating water system? I understood more viscerally the conference theme: ‘Our ocean, our future: united for urgent action’.

The conference sparked progress – including further support for the Pelagos Sanctuary, near me in the Mediterranean. Support for a global plastics treaty grew to over 90 countries, and 37 countries now support a moratorium on seabed mining (up from none in 2022). A treaty on the governance of the high seas – 50% of the planet and currently without governance – jumped from 30 to 51 ratifications. That’s nine short of the number needed, but there is hope ratification will be achieved this autumn, to come into force in January 2026.

Headlines continue to debate what progress was made and what remains to be done. What is not debatable is that time is of the essence. Many ocean ecosystems are already approaching critical tipping points, and urgent and decisive action is needed. What can I do? What can you do to help the ocean flourish? Let awe and wonder catch your hearts and minds and join in – ‘Our ocean, our future: united for urgent action’.

Where Faith Takes Root: Reforesting Cavinti

The Philippines is one of the most biodiversity-rich countries in the world, with an exceptional number of endemic species of plants and animals, many of which are threatened. These include 1,777 species listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) 2024 Red List of Threatened Species. In the terrestrial realm, the main threat to biodiversity is from forest loss. The Philippines has just 7% of its original forest cover remaining since the 1900s, and the lowland forests on the main island of Luzon are some of the most depleted. Laguna Province, situated in southeast Luzon, is home to the largest intact forests close to Manila.

Christians in Conservation (CIC) – an Associated Project of A Rocha International – aims to mobilize Filipino Christians to take an active role in caring for God’s creation, particularly in conserving Philippines’ forests. CIC has been operating in the Philippines since 2013, where its first field study was in Cavinti, Laguna, specifically in the property owned by the Deaf Evangelistic Alliance Foundation (DEAF) School. The property consists of 100 hectares of mostly regenerated forest filled with diverse flora and fauna. Seedlings of native trees were planted on ten hectares through the volunteer work of CIC members and DEAF School staff.

Currently, CIC hopes to pursue community-based forest restoration in at least another ten hectares of degraded forest in the locality in collaboration with the DEAF School, local churches and local government. Some of the species living in the Cavinti forest include the Large Rufous Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus rufus and the Luzon Forest Frog Platymantis luzonensis.

Some of the plant species to be planted include the indigenous White Seraya Parashorea malaanonan trees with their tall canopy that provide nesting sites for the Northern Rufous Hornbill Buceros hydrocorax (pictured above), the White Lauan Shorea contorta that forms dense canopies and provides nesting sites for the Northern Sooty Woodpecker Mullerpicus funebris and the Lamog Planchonia spectabilis that supports species interactions by offering habitat and supporting pollinators.

Monthly Archives: July 2025