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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 state that planting large numbers of jatropha trees in desert locations could be an efficient way of curbing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed “carbon farming”, researchers state the concept is economically competitive with modern carbon capture and storage tasks.

But critics say the concept could be have unforeseen, unfavorable impacts consisting of increasing food costs.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is effectively adapted to extreme conditions consisting of extremely dry deserts.

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

In this research study, German scientists showed that one hectare of jatropha could capture up to 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere 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 good growth, a good reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no issue attempting 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 vehicles and trucks in Germany over a twenty years period.

The researchers state that a crucial component of the strategy would be the accessibility of desalination facilities. This means that initially, any plantations would be confined to seaside locations.

They are wanting to develop bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other schemes that simply balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha could be a good, short-term service to climate change.

“I believe it is a great concept because we are truly drawing out carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and it is completely various between extracting and preventing.”

According to the scientist’s estimations the expenses of curbing co2 by means of 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 variety of nations are presently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be deployed commercially.

Growing jatropha not only takes in CO2 however has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be gathered for biofuel state the researchers, offering an economic return.

“Jatropha is perfect to be become biokerosene – it is even much better than biodiesel,” said Prof Becker.

But other professionals in this area are not convinced. They indicate the reality that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But numerous of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very successful in coping with dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign manager for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was once viewed as the fantastic, green hope the reality was really different.

“When jatropha was introduced it was seen as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or marginal land,” she stated.

“But there are often individuals who need marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location – we would not class the land as limited.”

She mentioned that jatropha is extremely toxic and can contaminate the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had concerns about the fairness of the concept.

“It is still someone else’s land. Why go in and grow these enormous plantations to handle an issue these individuals 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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