Time and Trees: A Lesson for International Day of Forests 2025

| By Akelachi Kejeh

I enjoy speaking with Chris, a local forest guide in Afi, because he's always full of fascinating stories. Every walk through the forest with him is an adventure filled with stories about nature, local history, and some intricate human-fauna relationships that keep the wild alive.

One day, he shared a unique way that locals estimate the age of a tree. “If you want to know how old a tree is,” he said, brushing his fingers over the rough bark of a fallen massive trunk, “gather a group of people and form an unbroken circle around it. The number of people it takes is the tree’s age in centuries. If five people are needed, the tree is about 500 years old.”

I was intrigued. How often do we pass by trees without considering their history? How many seasons, storms, and quiet sunrises had this one tree witnessed?

So on this field trip, we tried it with an ancient tree deep in the forest. It took six of us to close the circle; meaning, if Chris’s method is right, the tree has stood for 600 years! (I can’t say for sure, but what’s certain is that trees take centuries to fully mature, a reminder of just how much time nature invests in them). It was a humbling moment, a reminder that trees are the keepers of time, growing steadily while the world around them changes.

Chris showing the SMACON team how to informally measure the tree's age

But despite taking centuries to mature, forests can be lost in minutes. Wildfires, deforestation, and habitat destruction erase what nature has taken such a long time to build. And when trees fall, so much more is lost because forests are home to incredible wildlife, from the elusive pangolin to bats, gorillas, and countless other species. They provide food, medicine, and clean air, playing an irreplaceable role in our planet’s health. Forest ecosystems provide immeasurable services!

This #InternationalDayofForests, let’s pause to appreciate the trees that have stood for generations and commit to protecting the forests that sustain life on Earth. Because once they’re gone, we can’t simply link hands and bring them back.