Desert 'carbon farming' to curb CO2
1 August 2013
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By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, BBC News
Scientists say that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert locations might be an effective way of curbing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed "carbon farming", scientists state the concept is financially competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage jobs.
But critics say the idea could be have unanticipated, unfavorable impacts including increasing food rates.
The research study has actually been published, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of modification
Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is extremely well adapted to harsh conditions consisting of exceptionally dry deserts.
It is already grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world since its seeds can produce oil.
In this research study, German researchers revealed that one hectare of jatropha could record up to 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the environment every year. The scientists based their price quotes on trees currently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.
"The outcomes are frustrating," stated Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.
"There was excellent growth, an excellent response from these plants. I feel there will be no problem attempting it on a much bigger scale, for instance ten thousand hectares in the start," he stated.
According to the researchers a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would absorb all the CO2 produced by automobiles and trucks in Germany over a 20 year duration.
The researchers state that a critical aspect of the plan would be the schedule of desalination facilities. This means that at first, any plantations would be restricted to seaside locations.
They are intending to develop bigger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. says that unlike other schemes that simply balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be a great, brief term option to climate change.
"I think it is a great idea since we are truly extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - and it is completely different between drawing out and avoiding."
According to the researcher's calculations the costs of curbing carbon dioxide by means of the planting of trees would be in between 42 and 63 euros per tonne. This makes it competitive with other strategies, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).
A variety of nations are currently trialling this innovation, external but it has yet to be deployed commercially.
Growing jatropha not only absorbs CO2 however has other benefits. The plants would help to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be collected for biofuel say the scientists, offering a financial return.
"Jatropha is ideal to be become biokerosene - it is even much better than biodiesel," stated Prof Becker.
But other professionals in this location are not encouraged. They point to the fact that in 2007 and 2008 big numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But a lot of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not extremely effective in dealing with dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was once viewed as the fantastic, green hope the truth was very various.
"When jatropha was introduced it was seen as a miracle crop, it would grow on scrubland or limited land," she said.
"But there are often people who need marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location - we wouldn't class the land as marginal."
She mentioned that jatropha is extremely harmful and can contaminate the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had concerns about the fairness of the idea.
"It is still someone else's land. Why go in and grow these huge plantations to handle an issue these people didn't really cause?"
Follow Matt on Twitter, external.
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Related web links
Universität Hohenheim
European Geosciences Union
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Desert 'carbon Farming' To Curb CO2
margartrobison edited this page 2025-01-11 10:54:10 -06:00