The largest reforestation project in the world manages to repopulate an area twice as large as Andalusia

2023-11-27 -

Proof of China's determination when it comes to getting to work to solve a problem is the fight against desertification that affects this immense country, where 27.4% of its surface is desert, affecting 400 millions of people. However, the problem does not stop there, as arid lands are advancing unstoppably and every year sand storms eat up 2,300 square kilometers of agricultural land, an area larger than the entire island of Tenerife. However, the Great Green Wall project is clearly managing to curb this threat, in an example of how constant and far-reaching policies can give results.

What is the Great Green Wall of China? This is a gigantic project, considered the largest in the world in forestry engineering, launched in 1978 and which must continue until 2050 to create an immense forest strip 4,480 kilometers long that will stop the advance of the Gobi Desert. This initiative is also known as the Three Norths Project, since this green strip is located in the Northwest, the Central North and the Northeast of the country, the regions most affected by desertification and crop loss.
Although it may seem like the typical project destined to come to nothing, the truth is that it is reaping great results, as once again revealed by a scientific study published in the journal Ecological Processes by scientists from the Institute of Applied Ecology of the Chinese Academy of Science.
Strong increase in tree area
According to this study, the forested areas already created between 1978 and 2017 have increased by 158,051 square kilometers, which is equivalent to practically double the area of Andalusia. The most important thing is not only the territory that has managed to recover from the desert, but the effects that this has in terms of CO2 capture.
According to researchers, the reforestation project has created a significant carbon sink that is capable of absorbing 5% of China's total industrial CO2 emissions between 1978 and 2017.
The total forest area of the Three Norths project increased from approximately 221,000 square kilometers in 1978 to approximately 379,000 square kilometers in 2017, the latest figures available. As a consequence, a CO2 capture system of 47.06 million tons of carbon per year has been created during these four decades.
According to other data, spring sandstorms in Beijing were reduced by 70% between 2008 and 2018, demonstrating the positive effect that the massive reforestation project is already having, long before its completion.
Spring sandstorms in Beijing decreased by 70% between 2008 and 2018
The number of trees planted until 2018 is 66,000 million, and prominence has been given to the species Enterolobium cyclocarpum and others from the Fabaceae family, given their adaptability to these terrains.
The Chinese forestry administration has been constantly monitoring the evolution of this initiative, which shows that the desert continued to advance, despite this reforestation process, between 1994 and 1999, but, on the other hand, it has begun to decrease since that last one. anus.
Some voices have questioned both the procedure used and the results figures offered by the country's authorities. It is criticized, for example, that in many cases reforestation has been carried out in an uncontrolled manner and without scientific criteria on land not suitable for this and using inappropriate systems or species. “With the Great Green Wall, people are planting many trees in large acts to nip desertification in the bud, but then no one takes care of them and they die,” the director of the China Environmental Forum in Washington (USA) explained to National Geographic. Jennifer L. Turner.
A long-range national strategy
The effort made by the Chinese government in this specific region is part of a national strategy aimed at drastically increasing the country's forested area, for which huge amounts of public money are being allocated every year.
Since 2001, according to official figures from the State Forestry Administration, China has been recovering, on average, 50,000 square kilometers of forest areas per year (more than double the area of the Valencian Community and slightly more than Aragon).
China has been recovering, on average, 50,000 square kilometers of forest areas per year
Investment in reforestation was around 70 billion euros in the first five years of the 2010s, according to the United Nations Green is Gold report. Restrictions and sanctions on companies that practice deforestation are increasing. There is no other country in the world that has recovered as many green areas as China in this century. However, the country continues to lead the list of CO2-emitting nations. And 27% of its territory is still arid.