The Great Green Wall of China is the largest
reforestation project in the world, with over 66 billion trees
planted in an effort to combat the expansion of the Gobi Desert.
But it's not all black and white.
Regardless of intention, when done improperly, projects
like this can have a devastating impact on local ecosystems.
And at this scale, it's
safe to say that success or failure will have global consequences.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
first, we need to know why this initiative even started.
China has been fighting against desertification since at least
the 1950s, after a long period of unsustainable growth.
Around 27% of the country is covered by deserts,
and in the year 2000, the Gobi Desert was estimated to be expanding at a rate
of 10,400 square kilometers a year.
With farmland rapidly becoming desert and an ever growing population, it was clear
that a future famine was inevitable, unless immediate action was taken.
So in 1978, the Chinese government drew up a plan.
A wall of trees around 4500 kilometers long built
to block the expansion of the desert, while also shielding against sandstorms
and offsetting the country's carbon emissions.
According to the World Bank, as of 2020, China is 23.3% forest, which is a 14.7%
increase from the record low in 1949, and the project is far from over.
So how could this be a problem?
Well, the main issue comes with the planting of monoculture forests.
Like many reforestation projects, the great green wall utilises fast-growing
trees like Aspen, White Birch and Poplar to grow as rapidly as possible.
However, due to a lack of variety, these ecosystems often prove to be fragile
and unsustainable.
In 2000, 1 billion poplar trees were lost to a single disease, which set
the project back about 20 years.
And in 2008, 10% of the artificial forest was destroyed by winter storms.
In fact,
this isn't even the worst issue,
as planting species
like these can actually have
the exact opposite effect than intended when you don't take local conditions
into account.
As many of these areas were never forested in the first place,
much of the land that's being planted is of poor quality.
But the tree species that have been used for
this project need a lot of ground water to fuel their growth.
Given that these are already
barren conditions, this often results in any smaller vegetation
nearby, such as native grasses and shrubs withering up and dying.
As a direct result from that.=, that loosens the topsoil,
and it makes it even more susceptible to wind erosion.
Which leads to even more nutrients being removed from the soil.
Of course, with consistent human intervention,
these plants could survive in environments
that wouldn't normally be able to sustain them.
However, particularly with to scale this project, it's an unrealistic option.
In fact, according to a 2004 study by Sooyoung, only 15% of the trees
planted from 1978 to 2004 managed to survive.
The trees that do survive?
Aren't, really good for much aside from logging.
Planting a select few non-native species does not create a healthy forest.
And while they still offer a habitat, they are nowhere near
as biologically diverse as native old growth forests.
That's why when we undertake reforestation projects here at Mossy Earth.
Our aim isn't only to combat
climate change, but to restore ecosystems and conserve biodiversity.
I don't expect you to take my word for that, though, and it's a good idea
to think twice about what you hear in a random YouTube video,
which is why we also aim to be as transparent as possible.
On our website you can find out more about our ethos and methodology,
which includes assisting natural regeneration wherever possible.
It's a method of reforestation that's been largely ignored here, but
it remains the best option when it comes to creating rich, biodiverse environments.
After all, a fully fledged ecosystem already exists in those old forests.
You're just allowing them to reclaim land.
But unfortunately, the opposite correlation is being seen
with this project.
Between 2000 and 2015, despite a 32% increase in tree cover in southwestern
China, those native forests suffered a net loss of 6.6%.
Research of the area found that local farmers were cutting down
native vegetation so they could collect money from sowing non-native plants.
When financial incentives are introduced without proper guidance and restrictions,
there is a significant risk of schemes like this only doing more damage
to the remaining old growth forests of China
and the wealth of biodiversity that they support.
On the topic of biodiversity, there's an important clarification
to be made here
when we talk of the encroaching desert you may be imagining
that as a barren wasteland devoid of life, but that couldn't be further
from the truth.
The Gobi Desert houses a wide variety of flora and fauna, including many species
are under threat of extinction, such as a snow leopard and Bactrian camel.
The goal isn't to beat the desert, and it never should be.
Conserving natural deserts is just as important as any other goal
in conservation.
And ironically enough, the Gobi Desert is a significantly healthier
ecosystem than the artificial forests created to stop its advance.
Of course, that's not to say stopping desertification is a bad thing.
There's no denying that something does need to be done
to protect China's grasslands and lessen dust storms.
And this project was successful in reducing the frequency of dust
and sandstorms by one fifth between 2009 and 2014.
The Chinese government
also claims have been successful in not only halting the desert, but
they're actually reclaiming 2400 square kilometers a year.
It's unclear as to which specific areas are recovering and which are faltering,
but satellite data from NASA seems to back up their claims of success.
There is no denying that the great green wall
has plenty of flaws, but much of the issue simply boils down
to attempting to quickly manage this problem at a large scale.
However, recently it's been reported that local and national governments
in China have changed their approach.
Between 2014 and 2017, China rolled out a nationwide ban on felling natural
forests, and in 2020 they revised their forestry law
to allow for more comprehensive protections.
It's also being reported that
instead of solely planting fast growing monocultures, governments
have been planting native trees, shrubs and herbs that require less water.
Crucially, growing
these native plants still comes with economic advantages for the locals,
but without the negatives that come with planting unsustainable non-native species.
If these reports are correct, it bodes well for the future success
of the Great Green Wall and China's fight against desertification,
while reducing our carbon footprint is definitely the right idea.
Neglecting issues like biodiversity in the pursuit of lessening emissions
will only worsen the problem in years to come.
That's why it's important to evaluate any reforestation projects
you might be contributing to.
So if you'd like to find out more about the right and wrong ways
to go about planting trees, then you should check out this video here.
Until next time. Cheers!