🌅 China Turned a Desert into a Carbon Sink

SOURCE

Live Science

WHAT TO KNOW

• Over the past four decades, the Chinese government has planted roughly 88 million acres of forest and some 66 billion trees around the Taklamakan Desert in an effort to transform the landscape into a “Great Green Wall” and tame the expansion of desert drylands. A new study by an international team of researchers shows the work is paying off, finding the project has turned one of the world’s largest and driest deserts into a carbon sink (meaning it absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits) with sprawling greenery.

WHY IT MATTERS

• The project is an example of successful afforestation, in which hardy shrubs and trees are planted on previously barren land in an effort to bring back greenery. The authors say the findings suggest afforestation can help make a dent in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, though only a modest one. The team describes their work as part of a larger “puzzle,” helping scientists understand where and how much CO2 can be drawn down through afforestation, rather than a magic bullet that should encourage the mass planting of trees in all desert landscapes.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• Other research shows afforestation projects aren’t right for all regions and indeed come with several drawbacks, including reductions in biodiversity and moisture availability as trees planted at higher densities can compete with native vegetation, particularly in areas that weren’t originally covered with forests but with steppes, savannas, or grasslands. Though “green wall” programs have at times supported effective interventions (the jury is still out on the ultimate success of China’s program, which won’t truly be known for several more decades), some experts say they should be abandoned, arguing that resources should instead be focused on developing dryland conservation strategies that are more ecologically appropriate in a given area.