CO2 is driving climate change, forests naturally extract CO2 from the atmosphere. Many countries are reforesting, but none like China. A forest the size of Germany is being created there.
One is used to superlatives from China. The largest high-speed rail network in the world, the massive upgrade, plus a lot of prestigious large-scale buildings and the project of the new Silk Road, which the West is suspiciously observing. Much less known is that Beijing has been building a new great wall for a long time – a green wall.
It is the largest and most ambitious mega-project in a country where there is truly no shortage of bold projects. The Great Green Wall started at the end of the 1970s and it is not due to be finished until 2050. It is the most massive reforestation program in the world. The three-north protection belt program – another name – consists of three strips of newly created forest. Together they are as big as Germany, the forest is said to be 4500 kilometers long. Beijing wants to stop the expansion of the Gobi Desert, improve the regional climate and soils there, and establish forestry.
In China, the Green Wall is a key PR issue. Schoolchildren, actors, the heads of the party and the state participate in the collective effort. March 12th is National Tree Planting Day. The most famous viral heroes are the two friends Jia Haixia and Jia Wenqi. Jia Haixia lost his eyesight and Jia Wenqi lost both arms. To survive, they leased a piece of land and began to reforest it. Despite their handicaps, they were able to plant over 10,000 trees and keep them alive.
But with so much – even prescribed – enthusiasm, problems were inevitable. Fulfilling the plan was the goal of the afforestation, so trees were planted for the devil. Whether it could turn into a forest was a secondary question. The preference for fast-growing poplars led to a monoculture, which in turn allowed pests to thrive.
Slap with monocultures
There is massive criticism of the monocultures that have been created. A monoculture can only store around twelve tons of carbon per hectare, a biodiverse forest comes to 32 tons. Many plantings stunted because nobody later looked after the forest. But Beijing learned from the mistakes, now a large part of the area is to be reforested in a natural way.
Although it won’t work naturally because of the lack of fertile soil. Also for that “natural” Forest there will be a jump start. Beijing is pulling out all the stops for the project to revitalize the northern zones. Weather and rainfall should be regulated. Special rain highways will bring additional rainfall to the northern regions and afforestation areas. To this end, the local communities are involved. Farmers get money for planting and caring for the trees. Climate change is far away for the simple rural population, so the calculation, the more promising is the appeal to self-interest.
Cities turn green
A forest city campaign joins the protective forest. China, of all places, wants to build the greenest cities in the world. As of 2004 about 170 cities have “Waldstadt”-Projects started. Small parks are not being created, huge areas are being planted with greenery. And of course there are problems here too. Last year, pictures of a failed construction project went around the world. The high-rise buildings in Chengdu should be completely greened. But the buildings turned into an apocalyptic jungle when there was a delay in the tree.
But these mishaps shouldn’t obscure the essentials. In the newly created city of Xiong’an, under the program “Millennium Forest” planted more than 100 different tree species. In autumn 2020 alone, 3600 hectares were planted with seedlings in this city. The declared goal is green cities. By 2030, 40 percent of their area should be covered with trees and green spaces.
Worldwide reforestation
Afforestation is an important topic worldwide, in China the dimensions are only the largest, but also in Ireland and the Baltic States afforestation is taking place. The problems are the same as in China, albeit on a small scale. Environmentalists want a biodiverse jungle, landowners favor a subsidized wood factory. In China, the project has already paid off, despite the bumpy start. In the regions affected, forest cover has almost doubled from 12 percent to 22 percent since 1978.
In these dimensions, a large amount of CO2 from the atmosphere is then bound – first in the forest and then later in the growing topsoil. And that is not without consequences for the climate. We know from history that the genocide of the Indians of South America caused their cities and their fields to be covered by forests. This intervention has to “Little ice age” which lasted from the 16th to the 19th century. The CO2 level in the air fell back then due to the increase in the forest in South America.
Forests have another advantage: once they are successfully established, they hardly cost any operating costs. Unlike technical CO2 extractors, it works all by itself. Nor do you have to think about how to store the extracted CO2, it passes naturally into wood and soil. However, large areas must be available for forest cover. In addition, problems with watering can arise.
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
