The Great Green Wall: a long-term solution?
From "the week"
China is currently running what may be the largest ecological engineering project in the world – and the Great Green Wall seems to be working, reports the New Scientist. In 1978, the Chinese began planting millions of trees to create a giant windbreak across the country’s arid north, and halt the expansion of the Gobi Desert. The project is not due for completion until 2050 – by which time more than 100 billion trees will have been planted – but the latest research suggests it is already taking effect. “Vegetation has improved and dust storms have decreased significantly in the Great Green Wall region, compared with other areas,” said Minghong Tan of Beijing’s Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research.
Storms from the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts blow the top soil off land – regularly shrouding Beijing in dust – and leading to desertification. However, many experts remain unconvinced that covering grassland in an artificial forest is an appropriate long-term solution, not least because trees soak up so much ground water. More than a quarter of China is either desert or suffering from desertification.
1 comment:
It is accepted science that deforestation impacts on local (and possibly wider) weather systems. It follows that intensive planting will do the same. There will be consequences, some of which will be unforeseen. On the other hand all sorts of natural events, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, coastal erosion impact on a locality's vegetation which in turn will eventually impact on weather systems. We live on a planet of shifting sands.
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