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Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2

Desert ‘carbon farming’ to curb CO2

1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment correspondent, BBC News

Scientists say that planting large numbers of jatropha trees in desert locations might be an efficient way of suppressing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed «carbon farming», scientists state the concept is economically competitive with modern carbon capture and storage tasks.

But critics say the idea could be have unexpected, unfavorable effects consisting of driving up food rates.

The research has been released, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is extremely well adjusted to extreme conditions consisting of very arid deserts.

It is already grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world due to the fact that its seeds can produce oil.

In this research study, German scientists revealed that one hectare of jatropha could record approximately 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The scientists based their estimates on trees currently in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

«The outcomes are overwhelming,» stated Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.

«There was great development, a great response from these plants. I feel there will be no issue trying it on a much larger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the start,» he said.

According to the scientists a plantation that would cover 3 percent of the Arabian desert would take in all the CO2 produced by cars and trucks and trucks in Germany over a 20 year period.

The researchers say that a crucial component of the strategy would be the availability of desalination centers. This suggests that initially, any plantations would be confined to seaside areas.

They are wishing to develop bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other plans that just offset the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be a great, short-term solution to climate change.

«I believe it is a good idea since we are actually extracting co2 from the atmosphere – and it is entirely various in between extracting and avoiding.»

According to the researcher’s calculations the costs of curbing carbon dioxide through the planting of trees would be between 42 and 63 euros per tonne. This makes it competitive with other methods, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).

A number of countries are currently trialling this innovation, external but it has yet to be released commercially.

Growing jatropha not just soaks up CO2 but has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be harvested for biofuel state the researchers, supplying an economic return.

«Jatropha is perfect to be turned into biokerosene – it is even better than biodiesel,» said Prof Becker.

But other professionals in this area are not convinced. They indicate the fact that in 2007 and 2008 big numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But many of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very successful in managing dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was when viewed as the great, green hope the reality was very various.

«When jatropha was introduced it was viewed as a miracle crop, it would grow on scrubland or minimal land,» she stated.

«But there are frequently individuals who require minimal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area – we wouldn’t class the land as minimal.»

She mentioned that jatropha is highly hazardous and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had concerns about the fairness of the concept.

«It is still someone else’s land. Why enter and grow these huge plantations to handle an issue these individuals didn’t actually cause?»

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related internet links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

The BBC is not accountable for the material of external websites.

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