01 CONJECTURE
Planting trees and the Chinese miracle
From world’s worst polluter to environmental champion and pioneer.
All it takes is a new tree-infested area some 36000 square kms a year (a bigger area than the country Belgium). Can it be done? Of course not! Impossible! Blasphemy! Will they do it, you ask? Well if history is any indication if the Chinese want it, it will be done. A quarter of the world’s new forested area comes from China. In fact, March 12th is national tree planting day in China. In an amazing feat, Chinese citizens have voluntarily planted 78,1 billion trees in just 40 years.
So what does it mean for us? Apart from the fact that china tackling its vast pollution problem is a net positive for all of the world’s citizenry, it does offer us an interesting model to learn from.
Here is what we know:
1. The Great Green Wall
A little something called the Great Green Wall- Surely, you mean the Great Wall of China. No, no. A little something called the Great Green Wall, or in other words the Three-North Shelterbelt Program, was started by the Chinese government of 1978. Its mission twofold: stop the expansion of the Gobi desert and provide timber to local populations.
2. The Gobi desert
Stop the expansion of the Gobi desert? That sounds rad. But what is the Gobi desert? Let us tell you. The Gobi desert is the sixth largest desert in the world, rich in minerals and the first location where dinosaur eggs were found. Why would the Chinese want to box in such an amazing feat of nature, you ask? Well, ecological degradation in the form of desertification and sandstorms threaten the massive Chinese mainland. So turning dried up land that occasionally affects massive sandstorms into luscious forests seems like a good idea, wouldn’t you say?
3. Artificial forest
Yes, no, I do not know. Well, what we do know, is that as of 2009, with its 500.000 square kms covered in trees, the largest artificial forest in the world was born.
4. Problems
Oh, okay, that’s great then. Yes and no. Whilst the endeavour itself is remarkable and inspirational much like the Dutch dikes system, it is often said that a major flaw of the Great Green Wall project, is the management’s focus on quantity over quality. The project largely consists of monocultures. For example, in 2000 1 billion poplar trees were lost to a single disease, which set the project back decades. Another problem, is that much of the land that is being planted, was never forested to begin with and the soil is of poor quality. This would not be an insurmountable issue, were it not for the massive size and scope of the project.
5. The future
So, what happened to the Great Green Wall project? China has recently pledged it will plant 70 billion trees by 2030 to fight deforestation. A new approach is on the horizon as well, as monocultures are losing favour to a combination of native trees, shrubs and herbs that require less water to grow. This allows for a more realistic and sustainable approach to tackling the immense project. Climate considerations and general pollution levels have further pushed the Chinese government to double down on its goals.
So, what, if anything, can we learn from all this? Reforestation and artificial forestation are great projects to engage yourself with as long as they are done in a well thought out, responsible and results driven manner. When the focus is quantity and monoculture or if there are hidden agendas involved such as timber production, future projects may not have the desired longterm effects. Not every land may be suitable for forestation nor may any type of tree be the best choice.
If you enjoyed reading about planting trees and the Chinese miracle, you may want to learn more about the fragile relationship between tree life and the proliferation of CO2 right HERE:
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